Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the release of the group’s first album La Iaia, its leader and composer Ernest Crusats released last year what is his first solo album La font gelada (Fina Estampa).
It was a work that broke with the unmistakable sound of La Iaia because it emanated tranquility on all four sides and instrumentally it was basic and very close. A very significant contrast with the lively commitment that had turned the band of origin into one of the key groups of the last Catalan decade.
After its premiere at the last Mercat de Música Viva de Vic, today it premieres it in Barcelona (Apolo, 9 pm) within the Festival del Mil·lenni. La Vanguardia subscribers have a 15% discount on the price of tickets, provided they are purchased at Entradas de Vanguardia.
Between the last concert of La Iaia in 2019 and this La font gelada, between three and four years have passed. In this period, what did you do apart from facing the pandemic?
When I finished that tour, I knew nothing. I was in an artistic-creative limbo for a while, and I don’t know exactly when I started writing new songs, but of course it wasn’t planned to be a new Ernest Crusats project. But as the compositions developed and the way I felt about them, I thought they were more Ernest Crusats than La Iaia.
How did the pandemic affect this process?
The first songs were pre-pandemic, and when this one arrived, the album was half-developed. If the pandemic had an influence, it was that it gave me much more time to get into the lyrics in depth, exploring the sound, dedicating quality time to it. And I don’t know if relaxing the pace of life so much due to the pandemic had any effect on my state of mind. Because there is no doubt that the disc is well rested.
In any case, did you feel like parking La Iaia?
Parking is an expression that I like, and yes, I wanted to, I wanted to park it for a while at least.
Because?
It’s hard for me to answer this. I did the Iaia with two people, Jordi Casasús and Jordi Torrents, and I think there was an important part of me that considered that if they were not in the project it was not how I thought it would be. I thought it would be more honest to continue with my name if they weren’t there, although the songs with La Iaia were composed by me and I had every right to continue with La Iaia. It wasn’t a matter of disputes or anything like that.
That calm tone of the album is reminiscent of the metaphysical pop so in vogue in Catalan pop, with Ferran Palau or Joan Pons El Petit de Carl Eril.
I was a little scared to go to the epicenter of metaphysical pop because I didn’t want to sound like metaphysical pop either. For this reason, my intentions were to work and record playing live and analogically.
His album has generally received great acceptance; why do you think so?
Don’t know. What I would like is for the word sonority to imply a feeling that what you are listening to has a point of reality, of two people playing live songs that have been designed almost so that they come out natural, practically without production, without artifice. Let it come to you a little bit like it’s being whispered in your ears, almost like you can pick up the music.
What is evident is that nature is the protagonist in many of the songs on the album, right?
The theme of nature arises before the pandemic and develops during it. I found it interesting to use it and that being aware that it is a very hackneyed topic. I was interested: one, to do something that was not very special, extravagant, or very exotic, because that also bothers me. And I thought that through nature and even using conventional images such as leaves, rivers, flowers or trees, I could try to create a metaphor that would be perceived as my own. This was the starting point.
And with what feeling would you like the public to leave your concerts?
Just leave with the feeling that they have seen and heard something interesting and that they have believed it; that personal, author’s music can be made in Catalan.
Speaking of the current Catalan music scene, do you think there is a place for albums like La font gelada?
I understand La font gelada as a record against what the scene is like today. That’s why I think it should have space. It is a counterpoint that can be interesting even for the current scene itself; I don’t know if it would have that much space if it was party music, for example… the scene right now is oversaturated with that kind of music.
Going back to the beginning, what will be the repertoire that can be heard at Apolo?
There is a hard block that is always the same and that is made up of the new album, in its entirety, and now we are incorporating some pieces from La Iaia into the new format.
Because?
I was reluctant to do La Iaia live in this project but if I do it it’s because I like it, although at the moment it’s just a version of Sota l’arbre, one of the group’s first songs and we like to play it because it has new arrangement and we feel comfortable.
But does the audience that goes to your concerts ask you for songs by La Iaia?
He doesn’t ask for songs from La Iaia but I know he expects songs from La Iaia, but they must be polite and keep quiet, hahahahaha. I know that you feel like jumping some.
