A couple of the songs on the album started like “Paranoia” where we were all just together in the room and the energy of all of us being together just creates a song. And then you know, the other songs were pretty much the same process. With the EPs and Cinema it would be Josh and I in the studio sometimes starting with a chord progression, sometimes starting with the lyric or concept and hoping for the best.
Submarine is the second full-length studio album by American indie pop band The Marías, released in 2024. It has received positive reviews from critics.
After finishing their Cinema tour promoting their previous album, María Zardoya and Josh Conway had broken up romantically and the band took a six-month hiatus,[4] including spending four months apart before the first sessions which would later become Submarine.[5] The band members collectively went to therapy and used the emotional process of the breakup to inform the music.[4] The film Three Colours: Blue inspired many elements of the album, including the "very intentional" colour palette shift from red to blue.[6]
In the lead up to Submarine, four singles were released. "Run Your Mouth" was released on March 7, 2024 alongside a music video. The song was written shortly after their breakup in which María felt "conflict avoidant" at the time,[7] and the song had also previously been performed on tour since 2022.[8] "Lejos De Ti" was released alongside another video on April 5, 2024, which was shot at Lake Tahoe.[9] The final two singles, "If Only" and "No One Noticed", were released on May 3, 2024 simultaneously. The album was released on May 31, 2024.
Writing at the Associated Press, Elise Ryan praised the "genre-bending experimentation that characterized" the band's previous work made up of "varied, lush productions" that listeners "will enjoy sinking into".[10] Robin Murray of Clash Music rated this album a 7 out of 10, stating that "this is a crisp album, well curated and often surprising" that advances the band's sound, helping them to "move past the barrier of the tricky second album with no small degree of confidence".[2] Editors at Stereogum chose this as Album of the Week, where Chris DeVille, calling it the "soundtrack of the summer" and he compared the music to Beach House and BADBADNOTGOOD.[1]
On June 4, Stereogum did a roundup of the best albums of the year so far and ranked Submarine at 47, with Chris DeVille stating that it "continues the Marías’ mastery of their own unique combination of psych, jazz, lounge, downtempo, dream-pop, and more".[11]
