When Kanye West released My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and half of my conversations were about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I remember telling a friend that listening to orchestral "All of The Lights (Prelude)" was like saying a prayer before indulging in "All of The Lights." San Fermin's self titled debut gives us an hour of this dichotomy: Maximalist love songs followed by spare instrumental tracks with Gregorian chants that recall actual calls to prayer.
The record was written and produced by Ellis Ludwig-Leone in the seclusive Canadian Rockies, though the lyrics themselves are incredibly worldly -- from Greece to, well, San Fermin. Here are 5 places you'll be longing for after your first listen.
5. Venice
We open the album with our protagonist recovering from a break up and wandering around Venice, Italy. Things are not well. "Another day to tiptoe on the balustrade/ Get over you, like anything I ever could." Stay off the balustrade.
4. Paris
"Take a seat, love and bring me to Paris." The song where this quote comes from, "Casanova," is filled with beautiful sentiments like this as well as uncomfortable sentiments sung beautifully. The chorus goes "And I can't fall asleep in your arms/ No, I can't fall asleep in your arms/ So tell me your story and I'll put myself to sleep" and it isn't as depressing as it sounds.
3. Guyana 
Ludwig-Leone makes a rare Green Mansions reference, the early 20th century romance novel by William Henry Hudson. The novel finds a wealthy Venezuelan man (Abel) escaping to the forest of Guyana and finding love.
2. Greece 
"Daedalus (What We Have)" is the record's anchor. Your first inclination might be to Google "Daedalus," and if you did, you found out that he's the father of Icarus, of ancient greek mythology fame. Unfortunately, there aren't any statues dedicated to Daedalus to visit, but fortunately you can fly to Greece which is really what Daedalus wanted all along--he crafted Icarus' wings himself.
1. Pamplona 
The largest Running of the Bulls festival takes place once a year in Pamplona, Spain, in honor of Saint Fermin. The festival of San Fermin was something that I was content to watch from my apartment in the form of 10 second news clips and hilarious bull-gorging animated gifs. But now I'm warming up to the idea.
Written by Rock Genius Editor Ronald Metellus.
Read the annotated lyrics for San Fermin on Rock Genius:
San Fermin - Renaissance! Lyrics
San Fermin - Crueler Kind Lyrics
San Fermin - Lament for V.G. Lyrics
San Fermin - Casanova Lyrics
San Fermin - Sonsick Lyrics
San Fermin - Methuselah Lyrics
San Fermin - At Sea Lyrics
San Fermin - Torero Lyrics
San Fermin - At Night, True Love Lyrics
San Fermin - The Count Lyrics
San Fermin - Bar Lyrics
San Fermin - In Waiting Lyrics
San Fermin - True Love, Asleep Lyrics
San Fermin - Oh, Darling Lyrics
San Fermin - In The Morning Lyrics
San Fermin - Daedalus (What We Have) Lyrics
San Fermin - Altogether Changed Lyrics