Congratulations on the album. Honestly, I think it's a risky album within the context of your musical career. From my point of view, you've broadened the musical spectrum you were working with, and it shows, and very much for the better, in the songs. Was this premeditated?
Thank you very much! The truth is, no. If you look at our discography, we've always made changes to the sound and the arrangements; we've always tried to make our music permeable to the moment in which we're creating it. I always say that I don't know what the album will sound like until it's recorded, and this time was no exception.
Are you a little "afraid" that your old fans won't connect with the album, or on the contrary, are you trying to reach a wider audience?
I think neither of the two. The followers of The Soulbreaker Company don't expect an album the same as the previous one. This doesn't mean that they'll like it more or less, but rather that they already know the idiosyncrasies of the band. So there's no "fear" regarding them. As for broadening the spectrum, I don't see such a big change as to attract people who didn't like The Soulbreaker Company before.
It's your 6th album and you're a well-established group. How do you manage this at this point? I mean, you, the core group that's been there since the beginning (Asier, Dani, Jony, and Andoni) have been friends for a long time, and is that the fundamental driving force that keeps Soulbreaker Company going as a group, apart from the desire to continue making music?
Being friends has been very important to get us this far; it has prevented ego clashes and made creating music enjoyable, because in the end, you're going to get together with your friends to do what you want for many hours. It's not that there aren't conflicts; we argue often, and although sometimes you'd want to tell someone to go to hell, they're your friends (laughs), you can't do anything about it. We're making songs, and another day we'll eat together; everything becomes relative, and that has been vital.
The new album, "Sewed With Light," has many more keyboards/synthesizers than previous albums, or at least it seems that way to me. Songs like "Persephone" or "Together" remind me of parts of Genesis or King Crimson. Was there a reason for this, or did the songs simply call for this?
I think that in this case, everything came together perfectly, because we love experimenting with sounds, but Txiki, who was a keyboardist with immense talent and great taste in music, was more classically oriented and didn't experiment as much. However, Javi is a production and sound enthusiast, so it's evident that synthesizers have taken on a more prominent role in this album. Yes, perhaps there's a little bit of Genesis in this album (laughs), and I'm sure it's not a general influence on the band, and although I'm not a big fan, I love Duke (laughs).
How do you usually approach the composition process before going to the studio? Do you leave room for what might arise at that moment, or is everything already planned?
Generally, we have most of it done in the rehearsal space. We're a band that spends two weeks in the studio, and we almost always record far from home, so we don't want to leave anything unfinished. That doesn't mean that when you're there you don't change some sounds, or shorten a part, or even, as happened with "La Lucha," add completely new instruments, like the xylophone and the vibraphone.
