By Mike Sain't Louis ·
En Canarias no existen las sirenas, or so they say
The title denies it and the cover proves it wrong. En Canarias no existen las sirenas (There Are No Mermaids in the Canaries), says the single, and yet there one is, sitting with its back to us on a black lava rock, with a shiny pink tail curling down into the water.
The scene is a sunset postcard: an orange and pink sky, waves crashing against volcanic stone, palm trees and white houses at the foot of the mountain. The mermaid has a quiff, sunglasses, a back tattooed with a big cross and arms that certainly didn't come out of a Hans Christian Andersen tale. It's a merman, a queer one, and very much a beach type.
I love the contradiction between what's claimed and what's shown, because it's a way of laughing at whoever decides which things exist and which don't. To find out what's going on with the mermaids of the Canaries, listen to the song, ideally with your feet near the sea.