The music of Marinero is the soundtrack to a fever dream where smooth bossa nova, melancholy Latin pop, and tender indie pop get all tangled up in soft rock smoothness and singer/songwriter deep feels. Hella Love is a comforting warm blanket of an album, destined to be top-of-the-stack listening for anyone looking to re-create hazy summer nights spent drinking fruity libations with friends and/or lovers. The band's chief architect Jess Sylvester blends live instrumentation with samples to create a sound that's reassuringly familiar while still sounding as fresh as a newly opened can of ginger ale. A straight line drawn from the Sandpipers to Carole King to Los Freddy's to Broadcast leads to Marinero's door; a slight turn to the left finds contemporaries like Mac Demarco and Dent May. The latter list could be longer, as there are plenty of people in the early 2020s working this same fertile strip of sonic territory. What Sylvester brings to the party is a firm grounding in the Latin pop tradition. Several of the songs on the album delve into different rhythms like tango or samba, the horns have a nice mariachi feel, and the songs he sings in Spanish, like the lilting ballad "Luz de Faro," have a natural flow that's lovely to hear. Adding these elements to songs as lush as anything by the Beach Boys by way of High Llamas (or is it the other way around?) makes for a rich and rewarding listening experience, one that is very easy to get lost in as each song rolls peacefully by. Hella Love isn't just quiet, intricately constructed songs, though. Sylvester cuts loose a bit on the pulsing psych-pop track "Beyond the Rainbow Tunnel" and dives boogie shoes first into a swirling, glitter-festooned dance track to close the album. It's a treat to hear him loosen the reins and hustle a little on these songs. He does disco just as well as he does soft rock, which is to say he knocks it out of the park. As Marinero rounds third and heads for home, he passes the competition like they were standing still, leaving them wondering just where this unheralded phenom came from. A couple more records as bewitchingly good as Hella Love, and the powers that be should get to work on his plaque for the hall of fame.