Local Review: Hurtado — Cavalier

Hurtado
Cavalier
Pleasure Tapes, Candlepin Records
Street: 04.30.2025
Hurtado = DIIV + Somber

As the nights grow longer and colder, we’re often sentimental creatures — pondering about the past and how it touches our soul, thinking on how our lives are changing. Hurtado’s Cavalier, a six-track EP, touches on just that very topic in a raw emotional, melancholy, indie rock way. Hurtado is a four-piece indie rock band originally started as a solo project in 2021 by singer-songwriter Sam Hurtado. Cavalier blends soft instrumentals with melancholy lyrics about heartbreak and growing up. This is a breakup album — not one filled with rage, but one to cry over and heal with.

Cavalier is about trying to hold onto someone you care for even though you’re realizing you’re both changing; growing apart instead of closer. It’s the kind of songs you listen to when you’re sorting through your thoughts and trying to be gentle with yourself, even though life hurts. The opening tracks lean slow and heavy, wrapped in layered guitars with raw lyrics about trying to hold onto someone who keeps slipping away. There’s tension between intimacy and emotional distance, with lines about not wanting to be touched, or feeling fine until suddenly you’re not — wanting both of you to own up to the truth of the situation that it’s not working. Healing is a journey of acceptance and change, and that is what I hear on Cavalier.

One of the strengths of Cavalier is how it balances vulnerability with resilience. There are songs about letting go, learning your worth or stepping back from people who no longer fit into your life. Everything circles back to that idea of navigating your 20s with as much honesty as you can, even if it hurts. Cavalier is an album for when you need a companion to face the shift from summer to fall, to say goodbye to old friends and hello to new ones, to accept what is not meant for you. When summer is ending, classes are starting again, everything around you shifts in small ways that feel huge — that’s what this record captures. It has that unique early 20s-ache, where life keeps moving forward regardless if you’re ready or not. The album fades to black like the end of a film, but not in an upsetting way. More like taking a breath and acknowledging that it’s okay to feel sad about change and growing up.

For anyone navigating heartbreak, or the confusing, character-building chaos of your 20s, Cavalier will meet you exactly where you are. —Cherri Cheetah

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