By José Gandue @Gandour
We've said it several times before, and we'll say it again: La Plata, Buenos Aires, the very capital of the province of Buenos Aires, remains, even now, despite everything that has happened in recent days, one of the musical capitals of Latin America. From there, they continue to surprise us with new music and the freshness of the creations coming out of this city. We return to this Argentinian city to report on the release of a striking album, made by an all-female quartet called Isla Mujeres. Secret, Their second album contains 10 songs (forty minutes long) and has been constructed in an eclectic manner, where, having indie pop as its main essence, The sound features textures from electronica, ambient, post-jazz, and rap. Since its release, it has been warmly received by local fans, and we believe it's time for this group to gain wider recognition across the continent. Therefore, we interviewed Amparo Torres, vocals and guitar of the band (also made up of Faustina Sagasti – Drums, percussion and vocals; Julia Barreña – Keyboards, synthesizers and vocals, and Elena Radiciotti – Bass, synthesizer and vocals), to find out more details about their present and future:
How would you describe your band's sound in 2020?
It's a sound that engages with new musical productions, playing with electronica, maybe a touch of trap, but it's a pop-rock band. We maintain a four-piece lineup, you could say like any rock band: bass, guitar, keyboards, drums, and vocals.
It's a sound based on exploring textures in our voices, on the interference of voices playing together. It's something very characteristic of us.
Excuse the typical question, but when talking about the band's characteristics, I can't help it: How was the band formed?
The band formed in 2014. At first, there were three of us. We played a bit, and then Elena, our current bassist, joined. Later, Faustina, our current drummer, joined as well. Julia and I have been friends since we were little, from the neighborhood, through our families, school, and many other things, and music has always been our bond. We would find time to sing together, play with our voices, and create our own space. Then one day we decided to start singing and writing our own songs. From there, we added more songs, more rehearsals, more offers, and a strong desire to get out and play live.
What do you think united them and consolidated the project?
We're good musicians (laughs). Many things brought us together. Among them was the fact that we had a lot of creative space to explore, a lot of enthusiasm and energy invested in the project of having a band. And above all, it was good for us, it was and still is good for us to see each other, rehearse, try things out, play around, and play with friends; it's a beautiful way of life that we chose without even realizing it.
What is it about? Secret, his latest album?
You'll have to find that out by listening to it! This is our third production, our second full-length album, 40 minutes of quite diverse songs, going through various phases. An album can have infinite interpretations, that's the best part. Unlike the previous album, the production process was much more deliberate, and that's why we also looked for someone to work with on more songs. That was Antu La Banca, a friend who now lives in Europe. We worked on the production with her and also with the person who recorded it, Nicolás Carlino, in a studio we set up at the drummer's house. It took longer than expected, but albums are capricious; I think they decide how long they take to be released. We invited some friends to play on some songs. My Name, The first song on the album features Lux Raptor on trumpet and Azziz Asse, another friend and colleague, on... Color, The second theme. There are also other main voices, such as Faustina's, who composed a theme called Enemy.
And the album has been so capricious that it came out in the middle of a pandemic….
Exactly. It was no good having it there waiting.
What comes next?
The abyss (Laughs). We released it and we don't regret it because people had been telling us to release it for a while, and we've received many messages of love and gratitude for releasing it and saving other people's quarantines. We also released a music video for the first song. My name Led by Julia Sbriller and Joaquín Wall, amazing artists. It's a kind of kaleidoscope where they form figures with their bodies. After this, we don't know what's next, nobody knows. We have to wait for things to settle down and stabilize. We'll do something; in the meantime, we'll communicate via social media, doing live streams, and putting together homemade versions in our homes.
