Flor de Toloache, Camilo Lara Drop Animated Video for ‘Besos de Mezcal’

Fronted by vocalists Mireya Ramos and Shae Fiol, the Latin Grammy-winning, all-female mariachi ensemble Flor de Toloache have released a new video for their intoxicating single, “Besos de Mezcal,” or “Kisses of Mezcal.” It is the first single off their yet-untitled album, due out in May.

The coquettish, pan-Latin dance number is complemented by a vibrant new clip, which follows a young woman under the influence of romance in a tropical-urban wonderland. Evoking the playful, color-blocked style of Sixties pop art, the video was illustrated and directed by acclaimed animator Mustashrik, who has also produced visuals for Elvis Costello and Ed Sheeran. “Our protagonist, the beautiful, mysterious Mezcalera, dances her way through the breeze and [vintage] cars, all the while enchanting the night’s revelers while a dreamy all-women mariachi band weaves a bouncy cumbia rhythm,” writes Flor de Toloache in an email to Rolling Stone.

Produced by Camilo Lara, one half of prolific electronic duo The Mexican Institute of Sound, he describes the song as “a flirty psych vintage cumbia, lacing in some sweet RnB grooves for those who want to dance to Las Grecas” — he adds, “if they started a punk band.” (Fans of Pixar’s Coco, for which he curated the music, may remember Lara as the skeletal DJ in the bowler hat.)

Flor de Toloache’s 2017 album, Las Caras Lindas, won the Latin Grammy award for the Best Ranchero / Mariachi Album that same year — making them the first all-female mariachi group to win in the doggedly male-dominated category. Apart from their upcoming album, the band will drop a new track with Mexican-American R&B singer Miguel, titled “Te Lo Dije,” a Spanish-language revamp of “Told You So” off Miguel’s 2017 album War & Leisure. The track, along with Miguel’s five-song Spanish EP, is set for release on April 5th.