Málaga-based trio chinachinachina have arrived. With their long-awaited debut album, dive in / breathe out, the band presents a deeply emotional, carefully crafted work that marks them as one of Spain’s most singular new voices in alternative music.
Blending dream rock with contemporary R&B, subtle electronic textures, and flashes of jungle and drum & bass, chinachinachina forge a sound that is at once expansive, intimate, and quietly bold. Vocalist and keyboardist Annie Bravo, drummer and programmer Juande Jiménez, and guitarist and synth player Javier Moral transform shared sensibilities into a sonic language that is immediately recognizable—elegant, hypnotic, and unafraid of stillness.
While echoes of London Grammar, Darkside, The xx, Wild Beasts, or piri can be heard, dive in / breathe out never feels derivative. Drawing freely from dream pop, R&B, jungle, and electronic music, the album ultimately exists on its own terms, unanchored to geography, genre, or expectation.
The album unfolds in two interlinked movements. Dive in navigates emotional depths: mistakes, lessons, and moments that leave lasting marks. Breathe out captures the calm after intensity, the clarity that emerges from darkness, and the decision to move forward. Together, the tracks trace a full emotional arc: sinking, learning, surviving, and exhaling.
“There was a moment when all these songs were meant to stay hidden in a drawer,” Bravo explains. “They only existed as a way for me to reconnect with my essence. If Javi hadn’t pushed me to share them and develop them together, this album wouldn’t exist.”
Recorded at Green Cross Studios and produced with Grammy-nominated British mixer John Foyle and Rotterdam-based songwriter Mucky, the album reflects a leap in ambition. Foyle, whose credits include Damon Albarn, Gorillaz, Sampha, FKA Twigs, and Mark Ronson, lends his seasoned expertise to the project, while Mucky contributes genre-fluid songwriting experience gained from work with Sevdaliza, Pabllo Vittar, and Wiley. The result is a sound that is intricate, timeless, and emotionally resonant.
chinachinachina deliberately eschew market trends and instant gratification, investing time, care, and resources into a sound that feels enduring rather than immediate. Every arrangement, texture, and silence is intentional, crafted to evoke emotion rather than chase attention.
Even before this full-length debut, the trio had already drawn attention from national media, Radio 3, Primavera Sound, Jenesaispop, and emerging artist lists for 2026 curated by tastemakers such as Julio Ruiz and Mondosonoro. Dive in / breathe out now cements that promise, establishing chinachinachina as a band built for longevity rather than momentum.
This is an album about risk, depth, and breath. About committing fully—as if every inhale were the first, and the last.
TRACKLIST
- blind eyes
- not anymore
- skin
- china
- collarbone
- forget me
- no ordinary love
- jail
- smoking
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