Los Retros’ Odisea is the Oxnard artist Mauri Tapia’s full‑length debut for Stones Throw, released in April 2026, and it marks a clear shift from his earlier lo‑fi indie ballads into a lush, neon‑lit world of Japanese city pop and ’70s/’80s jazz fusion. Written, played, and recorded entirely by Tapia in his home studio, the 11‑track album blends crisp drum‑machine grooves, rubbery bass lines, glistening electric piano, and chorused guitars with his soft, slightly hazy vocals in both English and Spanish. The opening title track “Odisea” and songs like “The World,” “Shape of Things to Come,” and “Secret Admirer” feel like cruising through a retro arcade cityscape at night—sleek, melodic, and saturated with nostalgia without ever sounding like pure pastiche.Across the record, Tapia uses that city‑pop palette to explore identity, romance, and spiritual growth. “Cielos,” “Sobre Las Ruinas,” and “Joven Pobre y Sabio” draw on Latin American soft‑rock lyricism and chord changes, turning stories of poverty, wisdom, and rebuilding “over the ruins” into floating, jazzy vignettes. The seven‑minute centerpiece “Doves,” featuring Japanese vocalist Hikari, strips the arrangement down to bass, drums, and intertwining voices, while closer “爆ぜるもの,” with city‑pop singer HITOMITOI, pushes the album’s romantic, neon‑soaked mood to its most cinematic extreme. Reviewers highlight Odisea as a remarkably assured debut: an “incredible” fusion of city pop, jazz, R&B, and Latin soft rock where every track feels like a different scene in one continuous nighttime journey, all anchored by Tapia’s DIY sensibility and quietly sophisticated songwriting.
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