The search for humanity is what truly has value in any artistic creation.
The duo originally from Durango and Guanajuato released their most recent album titled LIGHT%DARK and in Indie Rocks! We talked with them about the details, inspirations and anecdotes behind the album.
Part of the inspiration for this album was the nuances that can be found behind a LIGHT%DARK, all those grays that cross each other to get from light to darkness. The album is presented as a journey between lighter colors and then darker tones, making an analogy of how the human emotions and imperfections behind this music can be represented.
We feel that if you listen to the album from start to finish, looking at it in a color sense, it goes from brighter, cooler colors to darker colors. And it is because we have never let ourselves be guided, by force, only to create a genre or a subgenre, but we always make songs about how we are feeling at that moment and inspired by what we are currently listening to, and what we want to project. . We do not close ourselves, and in the end I think that what you can hear on the album is the reflection of feeling free when creating,” he commented. Thulium.
At the same time, and as they are a duo, the inspirations come in two different ways, an element that makes the composition of budaya the perfect analogy between them as members of the project and the name they have chosen for this album. About that other part Maya tells us:
Guillermo del Toro It has been a strong inspiration for me for the creation of this album when talking about imperfection, when he creates his monsters in his stories, he is greatly inspired by the imperfection of things and from there he creates narratives. I feel that we are very used to having regulations in the narrations and narratives of certain stories and the same thing happens with music, the topics that are discussed in music are very closed, talking about love and heartbreak is something that from the point of view Anyone who creates knows that they will like it because yes, ‘I love you’ and ‘I miss you’ and all those feelings are fine, but where are the rest of our emotions? and in that sense I think that there are many artists who are trying to capture other visions in music, and for my part I was very inspired by the monsters of William as with the idea of ​​looking for those human imperfections that upset us all and that were very important to express on the album.
Within this journey of light and dark, the artists talk to us about which they believe are, within the album, the songs that represent the most clarity and those that represent the most darkness, Maya tells us.
The main song that I would call intermediate (laughs) but lighter is ‘Your Color’. In this song we are raising an issue of depression, we are talking about a friend, or family member, or someone in your circle who is going through a difficult time and for you it becomes complex to know how to support them, however I think we wanted to put a lot of warmth in this song, just to be able to illuminate that person, to send them that love, light and support that they need. For me it is the song with the most light that seeks to illuminate those types of emotions and know that we will always have someone who wishes us well. So yes, for me ‘Your Color‘It is that light that helps others find that path.’
And in turn Thulium does the counterpart commenting to us:
I think that the one that talks about denser themes, and that also the harmony is like the more Phrygian is the song that closes the album, ‘Go to sleep Clavel’ that talks more about death, mourning, eternal rest but at the same time we do not treat it in a very literal way, but rather with other elements we make the reference to these themes present in the song; I also believe that humans are very fond of describing things in order to understand them and that is why we always relate death to darkness, but it does not necessarily mean that it is bad, it is more like part of the process of living, but it does tend to be to relate to darkness, to pain. We also try from the instrumentation to take it through what the grieving process is like, which at the beginning can be a little more confusing or chaotic and at the end of the song there is a resolution, where even in a moment there is a harmonic change that is Phrygian. It goes to something more minor, and it is precisely like this tranquility of releasing the pressure and then accepting the game. Finally, the song has several colors, but we do feel that it is the one that talks about something that perhaps we don’t want to talk about, so that’s why it could be the ‘darkest’.”
In the most technical aspects of the production of this album, which was carried out by Alan Santos In addition to the duo itself, we find great references to synth pop and electronic sounds very characteristic of budayaHowever, due to the theme of the album, on this occasion more organic elements such as a sax or jaranas are integrated into the table that give it that touch of imperfection and humanity that they commented on. Maya and Thulium At the beginning of this interview, this is what they told us about it:
With this album we wanted to get closer to the organic, without leaving our electronic part, before the production was more experimentation and learning Maya and mine but on this album we already worked with Alan Santos who has a project called Centavrvshe also plays many instruments, in fact his main instrument is the marimba, so he also has a lot of education in what Mexican folk instrumentation is and we wanted to take advantage of that possibility of combining both things. That means that there is obviously a lot of influence from him on the album, but on the other hand we wanted to maintain the line that we had already been working on ‘Vinegar Drops‘ which is one of the tracks from our previous album, in which we were able to make this combination with Son Jarocho and that although we are not Jarocheros, we can embrace the folklore of our country. It also seemed important to us to be able to implement this on the album because we have the idea of ​​​​presenting our music in a full band format, before we had the set only of Maya and me, but the idea now is to be able to count on musicians to help us bring this album to life live.”
Other most relevant things about LIGHT%DARK is the participation of Pahua and Ponce as guest artists who make this album a journey into tropical, electronic and Mexican sounds, a harmonic symbiosis between these ft’s. About the criteria for choosing your collaborators Maya He told us.
Some of the most beautiful things that the project has left us is the network that has been woven around it. Being from the province, we are very grateful for the cool network that has been created in the country. TO Pahua we knew her since she was in Sotomayor and we got along very well with her, we became very good friends almost instantly. When we started thinking about the album we knew that it would be a very good idea to collaborate with her. ‘Tide’ In reality it was composed mainly for another project, but we realized that we liked it a lot and we became suspicious and didn’t keep it, we thought it was very very Pahua the vibe of the song, that is, very tropical and Pahua She is the queen of tropical electronica in Mexico so it was perfect. Actually we wanted these collaborations to be between friends since you expose yourself to a very vulnerable space as a musician and composer when you are creating with other artists because it doesn’t turn out perfect, the truth is that it’s not like you sit down and an incredible lyric comes out in five minutes. In this case we already brought up the theme of the song, which is like a conversation with yourself, that many things can make you feel bad, world problems and so on, but at the same time you have no power over that but you do have the power to your interior and yourself. And with Ponce It was also a coincidence that we are such good friends now, because we didn’t really know each other and suddenly everything started to coincide with him, one day we came to an Sofar Sounds and we were with him, and then we realized that we had many friends in common and that’s how our friendship developed. And we also felt that he was very fluid, we presented him the idea for ‘I want to tell you’ which was to talk about the fear that a certain commitment to love can have, and we felt that Ponce It’s perfect for addressing those issues.”
Inside the album we find the focus track of the album called “Go to sleep Clavel” We enter it with the sound of a midi keyboard in a constant rhythm, while we listen to the somewhat naked voice of Maya; This song was composed with the idea that it would have 4 movements, as happens in classical compositions, and that it would relate the processes of a duel. They feel that these movements are a more sensory issue within the music, however there are certain aspects to highlight in each of them. The first movement is the moment in which the person for whom the mourning is manifested is already leaving, that is, that last breath or sigh before everything happens, and the farewell rituals that surround this. In the lyrics of the song we find phrases that suggest this to us, such as “Go to sleep carnation, at your side I can break. Go to sleep Rosal, in silence I start to cry.”
The second movement is acceptance but at the same time the entry into pain, once the feeling of farewell passes, the questions, crying and how? How is it possible that this is happening? It is an emotional shock that is musically reflected as a change where most of the instrumentation already enters and the sound becomes heavier. Then there is the third movement, which is the idea of ​​feeling everything within the duel, letting the emotions move and do what they have to do within your body and within your being, here we find on the track the entrance of the sax solo, making that analogy of chaos and dense emotions. And the fourth movement is assimilation, resignation from love and acceptance. It is the idea of ​​resting after so much chaos and pain, it is the premise of letting go to continue with life, musically it is represented with a harmonious change that breaks with the tension that we had been accumulating just like releasing a fist of sand that you were holding in your hand.
budaya They also shared some ideas and projects that they have in mind with the release of this album and after it.
The idea for next year is to continue playing this album and take it everywhere we can with the full band. We are also working on new material that we will probably release next year and with a slightly more different vibe than what we have presented so far. We are also thinking about plans to leave the country and be able to take our music to Latin America and continue positioning ourselves in Mexico and continue growing the network of budaya which ultimately means culture”.
