Gara Durán publishes tonight her long-awaited debut, “Gara.” Several tracks have preceded it, notably the spirited “Mi loco cowboy” or one of her duets with Barry B, “Una casa en el Teide.” This first album stands in sharp contrast to the EP “Alkimia,” released last year, which felt more somber.
Gara Durán tells us about the composing process behind this brighter work, while she gears up for a very long tour of venues that will take her in the coming months to Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Barcelona, Valencia, Valladolid, Huesca, Zaragoza, Málaga, Seville, Granada, Bilbao, Vigo, A Coruña and Madrid, where she has already sold out the first of two dates at Sala But. Details on her website.
What is this first album about?
It’s a very personal record that talks about my life and my feelings. They are experiences I think any 27-year-old can relate to. It’s a very earthly, very worldly album. Far from being a super conceptual record with a narrative or a story, it’s simply an album about me, about what I feel and what I live. And I’ve wanted the music to take priority above all.
If you say it isn’t a conceptual album, perhaps it’s because it’s something you’re considering for the future?
I’d say it more because I feel that today everything has to have a reason and everything has to carry a concept or a narrative weight. And many times, for me, it doesn’t have to have it, because music is music. I like it when the songs speak for themselves.
Maybe it’s something that weighs more on singer-songwriters, the need to tell a story? To name someone, Oasis didn’t make conceptual albums or ones with stories.
As there is so much content all the time and so much music nowadays, I feel you have to explain everything a lot, that there has to be a reason for things and for everything you do. And often what you do has no explanation, because this is art, this is about feeling. It’s music.
Let’s talk about the music then. The record opens with a very 90’s track, a bit Britpop, “Cuál es mi destino.” There are country influences, ballads… very varied styles, though it remains cohesive. Was that your idea?
I’ve experimented a lot with different styles, but I don’t think I’ve lost my essence. It has an atmospheric edge because I love listening to ambient music. And I also wanted the album to have a more pop feel. I wanted it to sound lighter, I wanted to enjoy performing live, and to have a more organic sound. You’ll see that in the live shows, but without losing my musical essence.
By ambient, do you mean a particular artist, a specific album, film scores? Brian Eno?
Yes, Brian Eno, Aphex Twin… Mike Oldfield might not be ambient, but he could fit that vibe as well.
I’ve thought of “new age” while listening to “Libélula.” It reminded me of Enya, something not referenced much nowadays.
It’s one of the songs on the album that most reflects my inner world. It’s a track I produced completely by myself, from start to finish. And that’s why I think it retains that quality. I love listening to that kind of music. Enya is an absolute reference for me. And Mike Oldfield also impresses me a lot with the amount of elements he uses and how he uses them. “Tubular Bells” seems one thing at first and ends up being something else. That fascinates me.
«Enya is an absolute reference for me. And Mike Oldfield. ‘Tubular Bells’ at first seems like one thing and then ends up being something else. That fascinates me»
How curious that you produced this song by yourself, one of the more interesting tracks. Why not produce the entire album yourselves?
I love that, and it’s a moment in my music I’d like to keep forever. Yet for this album I wanted to team up with RYO. When you work with other people, you see things from a different perspective. And it’s also great not to focus so much on doing everything by yourself. I wanted to try new things, which is why it also has a more carefree sound, like “Mi loco cowboy,” which I did with them. Or “Eterno aterrizaje.” Almost the entire record I’ve made with them and I’ve seen another side of me.
It reminded me of hearing the first track of Dua Lipa’s last record, when she said it would be Britpop and then it wasn’t. That’s how I pictured this. Did you read about that?
(laughter) No… I don’t know, it’s a track I wanted to be an introduction to the album. How it enters and everything: you don’t expect how it’s going to break. I thought it was funny to make that kind of track. Also, I find it very powerful. And live it’s really cool.
“Mi loco cowboy” leans more country, and there are more country touches elsewhere on the album. Is that so? Do you listen to artists like Kacey Musgraves?
Dolly Parton blows me away. I admire her a lot; she has beautiful albums and songs with incredible melodies. She was amazing.
How did you discover her?
Because of “Jolene,” the iconic one. In fact, it was through the version Miley Cyrus did. That version is incredible. Gabriel [Barry B, her partner] also really likes country: Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, that whole vibe.
Not sure if you watched the film “Walk the Line” about Johnny Cash and June Carter. There you see what they liked—the male and female vocal dynamic, like you two.
I did see Timothée Chalamet’s film. With Barry, I honestly think our voices blend very well. Each one has their own register, and when they come together, I think it sounds special.
«I’ve learned to write from a brighter, more joyful perspective»
After the Judeline thing, I’m not brave enough to compare anything else to “Amélie,” but “Una casa en el Teide” always struck me as a bit like “Amélie,” a fairy tale.
It’s a song I wouldn’t know how to classify; I wouldn’t know what style it is. It reminds me of “Malaquita,” a song I have that’s in 3/4 time. That song starts with an intro and, to me, evokes a fairy tale. “Una casa en el Teide” feels very hopeful, perhaps a bit fresher. We recorded it four years ago, but it stayed in a drawer. We felt it had something special and decided to release it on this album, to shape it properly, produce it, and see how it turned out. As you can see, people love it.
“Mi loco cowboy” is also proof that happiness can give rise to good songs, right? Overall the album is quite joyful…
Yes, I also wanted to bring out that side of me, because I come from “Alkimia,” which is very sad. It’s a very intense EP, very sensitive. And on this album I wanted it not to be all like that. I like to bring out the bright side of things and of life. So I learned to write from a brighter, more joyful perspective, by teaming up with people to write, like RYO, Gabriel, the guitarist Elías… The writing process became much more fun, trying a thousand things and generating a very good energy, and ideas would come. And I was also clear that I wanted it to be more pop. I’m in a moment in my life where I’m happy, fortunately, and I learned to give things less emotional weight. Life is beautiful!
You used the word “intense.” Have you been afraid of being too intense?
No, I always write what I feel, and what comes to me. In fact, being intense in music, I think, is good, because that’s where you get strong lines.
«When death is suddenly so close to you, you really reassess what you have come here for»
For example?
In “Three Stars” (Tres estrellas), the first line is: “this life lasts as long as the match’s flame, and I don’t want to burn out.” It’s a very intense but very real reflection. Today you’re here, tomorrow no one knows. And that also came from losing a loved one. When death is suddenly so close to you, you really reassess what you have come for. And that’s one of my favorite lines on the album.
“The Lake of My Sorrow” was also about the death of a friend of yours. I don’t know if we’re talking about the same loss.
It was another friend.
It’s not a story you’ve shared much, I don’t know if you don’t want to talk about it.
It wasn’t a close friend for me; it was someone we saw a lot, who we liked very much. Gabriel [Barry B] was closer to him, but I sometimes feel reluctant to talk about him because I’m not sure I have the right. It was simply a very sad moment because he was also an artist with his own project, he was going to release an album [Jay Robles, “Nailuj”]. We really lived it up close because he was a friend of friends and someone who was living our life, with the same dream as us. We reflected a lot in him. It hurt deeply to think that that guy had the same dream as us and the same drive for everything.
And “Three Stars” is about another loss.
Yes, it’s another loss. I don’t refer to that specifically. It’s more a reflection on life and death.
I was going to ask if the album was entirely about love and heartbreak, but clearly there are more themes.
It’s a love album in general, but there’s a lot of reflection as well. I talk a lot about life, about uncertainty, about what my destiny is, what will become of me. “Joy of Living” is about living in the present and being aware of the here and now. Recently I’ve found it hard to stay present and to be conscious of all the good things that happen to me. And yes, overall it’s more a love album and an ode to love and it’s joyful, but it also has nostalgic hues. “Libélula” is very nostalgic, it talks about a place I used to go as a child. It speaks of the past and the future, of my inner reflections.
«The album is an ode to love and is joyful, but it also has more nostalgic undertones»
Why do you say it’s hard to be present in the now?
Because we live in a society glued to phones, and often we look more at others than at ourselves, we compare, and we always want to be in tomorrow rather than today. In fact, this week I reminded myself a lot that I want to be aware of everything I’m living, because after all a debut album doesn’t come out every day. I want to be very mindful, at least, that this is extremely good for me.
What was the hardest moment to release a debut album?
When I didn’t have a record label or anything and I felt I was in limbo. I did everything myself, I had no means to do anything. It was very frustrating because I wanted a path, a serious job, to tell something and to make an album, which any artist wants. And there was no way. I was composing alone and getting very frustrated because I didn’t see a way out, and from there I wrote “Salvavidas.” It’s a very special song for me because it served as therapy. And from there life suddenly led me to sign with a label, to make an EP and now an album. So, thank God, ever since I signed with Universal, everything has gone very well and I have an amazing team supporting me in everything. Fortunately, I’ve done whatever I wanted.
Thank God, because you’re a believer?
No. It’s just an expression. Although I say it, really. I do think there’s something up there. But I’m not sure I would call it God. But hey, it’s an expression. Thanks to the energy, to whatever there is.
Thanks to your work?
That’s true as well. Exactly that!
In your album there is a lyric that makes one think of “therapy,” the word you just used. Something about forgiving yourself what you forgive others.
“The Eternal Landing.” It’s like a reconciliation with my past self. It’s like a conversation with myself in which I ask forgiveness from myself for all the ways I’ve treated myself badly, senselessly. Like this tendency to be very self-demanding and to speak to ourselves harshly. And there’s a line that says, “I’ve seen a girl with long hair who was crying and she reminded me of me. I would hug her, something I never did for myself.” I never did that for me, I never hugged myself. You know?
And there you are, there on your own, without therapy.
Yes (laughs). It’s okay, right?
«In ‘The Eternal Landing’ I ask forgiveness from myself for all the ways I’ve treated myself badly for no reason»
You’ve also mentioned nostalgia and there are some slightly archaic touches, like carrying a photo in your wallet, which appears in “Buena suerte.” Do you carry photos in your wallet?
A few of the ones that come to me. I don’t print them everywhere! (laughs) But yes. I have a photo of my sister, my mother, and I think of my boyfriend. I feel it’s special to see a printed photo. I think that’s a bit lost, isn’t it? Printing a photo and keeping it there. It’s very nice to see printed photos. In fact, we should look at old photo albums. I find that very cool.
How did the collaboration with Natalia Lacunza come about?
I already knew her because I had written for her album and there was a lot of connection between us, because we both love the same music, like BENEE, Imogen Heap… I started the song, I had the first verse, and it was going in a really cool direction, and I felt there should be another person involved. I thought of Natalia, because I think she has a lot of attitude and would fit that style. She said yes and we finished it in the studio. It was a lot of fun.
You mentioned Dolly Parton, who carried feminist undertones in her lyrics, sometimes very subtle, though she didn’t seem very political. Are you drawn to that aspect as well?
That kind of artists inspire a lot. They’re incredibly inspiring, because they’re people with tremendous talent who also say what they want and defend it to the death. A empowered woman is the best there is. I wish I looked as empowered as she does!
