Review: On 'MudaH', Carín León goes from a corrido with Ryan Castro to 'tumbada' salsa and pop-rock — proving the Hermosillo 'H' is more than decoration

Five months after 'Muda', the album that earned him Album of the Year and Record of the Year nominations at the 27th Latin Grammys, Carín León released 'MudaH' on Friday (Oct. 9), a 19-track deluxe edition — five of them new — via Socios Music. The silent 'H' in the title honors Hermosillo, the Sonora city where he was born, and it works as a reading key: the new songs feel like a tour of what shaped him, asking no genre for permission. 'I've always been in love with music, not with a genre,' he summed up.

The showcase is 'Atte El Insuperable', a corrido powered by charchetas (the alto horns typical of regional Mexican music) on which Medellín's Ryan Castro steps onto Carín's turf. It's a heartbreak song delivered with swagger and humor — signing off as 'sincerely, the unbeatable one' says it all — and the pairing works because neither tries to sound like the other; the Colombian said their styles 'come from different worlds but have so much in common.' Then 'Ya No Llora' turns a breakup into 'tumbada' salsa, 'Miss Mierda' starts as an alternative ballad and spills into pop-rock, 'El Bolero' is about falling in love again and 'Echando a Perder Se Aprende' blends Mexican textures with hip-hop.

In our analysis, the package does better than the typical deluxe edition, usually a dump of studio leftovers: the new tracks extend the reach of 'Muda', a record that already moved through big band, ska, blues and funk over a Mexican base, and back up what Carín said about the project — lots of roots, but 'a much more universal language.' The risk is sprawl: five songs, five genres, and not all of them hit as hard as the Castro single. Still, the consistent commitment to eclecticism, right before the Latin Grammys, shows an artist who no longer fits the 'regional' label. Score: 7.5/10