With a flow as intoxicating as the reggaetón-electronica sound he’s honed over the years, El Larra has spent the last eight years building toward a body of work that might encompass his love for the music of his home country of Cuba. Now based in Miami, the arrival of his debut album SANTA CRUZ has placed this dexterous artist atop the first of many vital high points of his career—and with summer melting everything around us, the collection is a timely offering of dancehall anthems to sweat to.
Leandro Soriano spent the first ten years of his life growing up in Santa Cruz, Cuba, passing the time practicing his two interests: boxing and freestyling. Yet his pursuit of music ultimately won out, inherited from his grandfather (the percussion director of a local orchestra) and imparted by his father (who taught him how to use a drum kit). After moving to Miami at the age of 10 years old, he held onto his aspirations, kept freestyling when he wasn’t working and eventually started to share his tracks online.
With influences that include Daddy Yankee, Nicky Jam, and Wisin y Yandel, his first releases confirmed he’d developed a deft ear for reggaetón. Trapped inside during the pandemic he kept creating, linking up with producer icekream (Issam Freiha), a move that has since proved hugely beneficial in his rise.
In 2022, he dropped his first two EPs—Mi Oportunidad and Serendipia—fastening his swaggering bars to the robust snap of shuddering dembow beats. At times, he even starts to push the boundaries between its quaking rhythms and accelerating electronics, as on tracks like “Rockstarr.” One year later, he served up “La Playa,” fully leaning into the paradisal and pulsating realm of house music.
With his debut SANTA CRUZ just last month, El Larra sends love to his hometown across 10 tracks that span reggaetón, R&B, house, trap, and more. Slip into a heady euphoria with “Cita Soñada” or opt for delirium with the sparkling throb of bass in “The Jungle”—everywhere you turn you’re greeted with soundscapes that teleport you to the sunny streets of the island he was born on and the neon boulevards he now lives amongst.
Together with icekream, he’s facilitated a passion for tireless experimentation that pays homage to the not-so-distant legacy of reggaetón while also boldly seeking out its future. In doing so, El Larra has emerged as a modern prodigy of all the many sounds that comprise El Movimiento.
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Words: Steven Ward
Visit El Larra on his Instagram and TikTok to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
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