By José Gandue @Gandour
One day, my friend Carlo Bruno Montalvao, owner of the Brazilian agency Brain Productions Booking, asked me what I thought about a Bogota-based group called Balthvs. I had no idea what he was talking about. When he started telling me that the trio in question was one of the best things he'd heard in years and that he wanted them to join his band, I must confess I felt incredibly ignorant, completely out of touch with what was going on. So I called a couple of journalist friends from the Bogotá music scene, and they couldn't tell me anything either. Besides, we were in the middle of a pandemic, and information was barely circulating digitally. I looked them up on social media and discovered that It was a soundtrack reminiscent of moments in the music of the sixties and seventies, elements of soul and blues from that era, but, at the same time, enriched with the flavor of funk and disco from the early eighties, and with unexpected moments taken from the Middle East, and others from contemporary perspectives such as trip hop and house. The tracks, mostly instrumental (though there are vocal moments in English and Spanish seamlessly blended within the mix), possess a sound and, if you will, an attitude not easily found in Bogotá's music scene. Some of their songs could easily grace the soundtrack of any African-American action film from recent decades, while others could serve as the opening act for a captivating multicultural party anywhere in the world. Their work is well-crafted and on the right track., already becoming part of the word-of-mouth marketing of the appropriate distributors to spread their recordings throughout the various circles of the entertainment industry. His recently released second album, Cause & Effect, They will be presented in a few days at the upcoming SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, and we've already been alerted to the attention they've garnered among experts eager to see their performances at the event. Therefore, before their trip, we contacted Balthazar Aguirre, guitarist and composer, to discuss their project:
Let's start with the basics, what does Balthvs sound like?
Balthvs sounds like an eclectic mix of psychedelic funk with influences from soul, house and world music.
What are the origins of the band?
At the end of 2019, after my old psychedelic rock band broke up, I met Johanna. We clicked immediately, started living together, and she wanted to learn to play bass. I figured I could not only teach her, but we could even form a band—a minimalist format, a power trio… So she called my old drummer friend Santiago, with whom I've been playing for years, and I started writing songs here in my recording studio. We released our first single in March 2020.
So, it not only brings music, but a love story?
They're two separate things, and like any relationship, it's complicated, so I prefer to focus on the music. There's no doubt that music is infused with our connection. The three of us have very similar musical sensibilities, and that's why we connect so strongly.
What musical references can be cited when talking about influences on the band?
I was heavily influenced by the psychedelic wave of the 60s; bands like the Grateful Dead, Santana, and Quicksilver Messenger Service were my musical foundation for many years. No matter what styles or genres we explore, psychedelia is always there in some way… But aside from that essence, we're equally comfortable listening to House, traditional Turkish music, Disco (Chic, Bee Gees), Funk (James Brown, Funkadelic), Neo Soul (Erykah Badu, D'Angelo), Indie (Mac deMarco, Parcels), Turkish psychedelic rock (Baris Manco, Erkin Koray), and Afrobeat (Fela Kuti, Tony Allen).
You guys (no offense intended, quite the opposite) seem like the oddballs of the Bogotá music scene. I say that because few (if any) people in this city sound like you. What's your take on the scene around you?
Organized into tribes or small scenes, there's rap, which is huge, especially in southern Bogotá; metal in Suba; the melancholic indie scene in Chapinero; the jazz musicians at Javeriana University; and then there are the standard genres that have their own circles (ska, metal, punk, reggae). The truth is, we're pretty detached from these scenes, as you mentioned, and we operate completely independently. We'll have to create our own scene, hahaha…
I'm struck by how quickly you've managed to attract the attention of international professionals who have set their sights on you. The first time I heard about Balthvs was through a Brazilian agent who wanted to sign you…
Well, we're a digital band… we released our first single and then the pandemic hit… It's mostly instrumental music, and the lyrics are usually in English, so clearly our audience wasn't going to be here. It was a matter of finding the bands and scenes we fit into, which are usually in the United States or Europe, and shifting our focus to those regions. Being 'digital natives,' it's second nature to send dozens of messages daily on social media asking people to add us to playlists or listen to our music, something we're still doing. Speaking English well is also important: My mom raised me speaking English so I'd be bilingual (she's from Bogotá), and I think it was a good decision on her part, haha. For me, it's like Spanish, natural…
In a few days they're going to Texas for SXSW, what are their expectations?
I have a feeling we'll feel more at home there than here. Many of our influences are from there, and for them, it's practically their local folklore. There are 2,000 bands, and there's also a film area and talks—anything is possible at SXSW, whatever comes naturally. Here, we're rehearsing daily; it feels a bit like the Olympics, thousands of bands from all over the world giving it their all in that one place for 40 minutes to see if they can stand out from the thousands of others… Being the only ones going from Colombia, it's an honor to be somewhat like ambassadors for our country at this year's festival. There's another Colombian act called Salt Cathedral, but they've lived in New York for over a decade.
Sooner or later you will have a headquarters in a place other than Bogotá, right?
No, it's one thing to enjoy going to those places to work and have people listen to us, but living there, I don't know… We receive royalties from Spotify and digital and physical sales on Bandcamp. With the peso the way it is, it's a good salary; it's enough to live on here. I've been living off my work at Balthvs for a little over a year now. But there, it's very little money; life is four or five times more expensive… and here I have a very good quality of life. But life is unpredictable, so I'm not closing myself off to anything. For now, we're still happy in our chaotic city.