Aberhosan Mystery, the most mysterious band to have come through Tótum Revolútum — you keep a pretty low profile on social media… is the surprise factor an important part of your musical approach?
Our music comes out of pure, hard improvisation, no script — just turning up at the rehearsal space and starting to create melodies on the spot. At first it was just playing for fun, lots of creativity and not much structure, until we realised something interesting could come out of all that.
2. Will this project ever see the light of day as a debut DVD (or a YouTube clip — got to keep up with the times)? I ask because you bring along a live VJ set, which isn’t common and deserves real admiration, illustrating the mystery of Aberhosan. Are visuals the great forgotten element of live shows? How has that collaboration gone? Can we consider Ramon the 4th member of Aberhosan Mystery.
As an instrumental band, we put a lot of weight on the visual side. With no lyrics in the songs — even though we’re telling a real story — pairing it with images gives us that extra something that’s always welcome, and in that sense, yes, we could say Ramón really is the 4th member of the band. He knows how to translate into images the music running through our heads when we play.
3. Speaking of the members, you’re joined by Pep Solà (bass) and Pep-Neil-Romero (drums), old acquaintances by now — the power-trio format and your sound remind me a lot of a refined ’70s musical era that I often miss today, delicate melodies and powerful Gilmour-style guitar riffs. What are your musical reference points?
We listen to pretty different music, though we do overlap at points. For example, Pep Solà listens to Monkey3, Colour Haze, Porcupine Tree… I go from Pink Floyd to Mark Knopfler to Bon Iver, all pretty different depending on the time of year or mood, I guess, haha. And Pep Neil-Romero listens to Lagartija Nick, Tool, Alice in Chains.
4. You’ll be playing Saturday at Tótum Revolútum with Noah Histèria, who you’ve already shared a stage with at Nota 79. How’s the reunion looking? I’ll add that you clicked immediately on the production side, which is always welcome… any news from Poire for the 10th anniversary?
I’m especially thrilled to reunite with Noah Histèria again for a few reasons: having shared a stage with Poire both here in Barcelona and in Valencia, and now getting to share one again with Aberhosan Mystery on their long-awaited return to the stage. It’s a real honour. As for Poire, I can say we’ve already met up for a rehearsal or two to prepare for Atlantis’s 10th anniversary.