Talking to: Selbor
Meet Selbor, a London-based Andalusian artist, whose self-titled debut album came out on 1st April on AWAL. Selbor pushes synth pop boundaries in his very own way, exploring the duality of hedonism and introspection, and merging electronic infused pop with his flamenco roots. Selbor has already found fans in the likes of Caribou and Hot Chip, the latter having remixed his previous single Your Love.
The Hot Chip influence is stamped all over this album, especially if you are a fan of their more downtempo heartfelt tracks. The album was written and recorded between Seville, Berlin and London, and fully immersed and influenced by each city's distinctive vibe, the result is a unique blend of flamenco, electronica and indie dance.
For the cover of this single and his debut album, Selbor has collaborated with artist DÉBORAS, sculptor and master of 3D Design, known for her work for Black Lives Matter and London’s coolest Queer club Adonis.
We recommend you settle back and get your headphones on right now before you read any further, as this is a Talking To: feature with a difference. Take a deep dive into the sweeping, playful, sea-air tinged soundscape of Selbor , because we’ve handed the reins over to the artist himself for this one, as we couldn’t turn down Selbor’s offer to talk us through the album track-by-track. His insights about the personal stories and cultural influences behind the songs and his creative process highlight the thought that went into making the album and intensify the laid-back, house and flamenco laced yet intelligent and astute vibe.
1. LORCA
This song is my tribute to Lorca. He was a Spanish poet who was killed by fascists near my hometown for being homosexual. Like most of my lyrics, his poems incorporate elements of surrealism and folklore with themes of romantic love and symbolic nature imagery. He organised the first Flamenco competition helping establish the music genre outside the gypsy community and into the world. You can hear the inspiration of flamenco in the clapping but also the chorus has a psychedelic flamenco (big in Spain in the 70s) influence. I like the contrast with the almost whispered, self-reflective verses.
2. THE ARROW
The Arrow was written in a four-hour session and I didn’t make any changes after as it sounded so good to me. The vocal melody and lyrics poured out of my mouth almost unconsciously. I grew up listening to 90s indie music and was obsessed with 4AD releases such as Pixies, The Cocteau Twins, Lisa Germano and Gus Gus. I was a closeted queer teenager living in a small town in Andalusia and those albums helped me live through that and inspired me to become a songwriter. I sent The Arrow to Simon Raymonde from The Cocteau Twins recently and he replied saying he really liked it, which means the world to me.
3. LIES
This is the most upbeat song on the album. I wrote it for my good friend Nuria Gimenez who made the music video for my song Smile To The Camera. I highly recommend her movie My Mexican Bretzel whose opening lines are the chorus of Lies: “Lies are just another way of telling the truth”. I met Nuria in Berlin where we lived and danced together for some years so I wanted to capture that urgency of youth with the house beat and piano hooks of the chorus. The verses encapsulate the freedom we felt at the time “We’re birds with no feathers, flying through the fields”. Together with Your Love, this is the most life-affirming song I’ve ever written even whilst questioning if truth exists!
4. THE WAIT
In this sombre ballad, you may hear influences of artists I love such as Talk Talk or Sufjan Stevens. Most of the songs I was asked to write while studying at the Institute of Contemporary Music and Performance were about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. Having used music in a cathartic way to connect with my deeper self and let all the shit out, this took a lot of effort. It did help a lot as it helped me understand the universality of music which I see a lot more of now in the songs I write. In The Wait I am about to murder someone I loved who didn’t love me in return. Hypothetically that is.
5. MENSAJE
Mensaje (Message) is an intimate ballad that builds up into a more dance-y song. Also threaded with a flamenco-inspired clapping loop like Lorca, Mensaje also has a zither, which is an instrument I love, adding a percussive melody to the second half lifting it into its more uplifting second part. It also has a train rattling sample that I recorded in London Fields station. I wrote the lyrics during a visit to Cristina Iglesias’ sculpture Forgotten Streams outside the London HQ of Bloomberg, which evokes the lost rivers of London under the city. The Flamenco house outro ties up the last song of the A side of the album with the opening song Lorca.
6. GUIDING SWORD
I did too many shrooms at a friend’s birthday and ended up in bed having a very vivid trip. It was all very cartoon-like and the tip of a sword was cutting through reality at a high speed and I was journeying through different worlds whilst finding out the meaning of life. Another recurring image was molten gold poured all over my body. As soon as I felt a bit better I wrote the lyrics for this song and later when writing the music I wanted to be sure it had that playful beat and melodies fluttering happily like a kite in the wind. My most escapist song so far, much needed during lockdown.
7. SNOWBOUND
I sometimes write songs whose lyrics don’t make much sense until a later date. I have a book I love which is a tale spun from the life of mysterious hermit Joseph Plummer, who lived in the woods of central New Hampshire in the late 1700s. It’s just pictures but very evocative. That was the diving board for this one. I wrote it before Covid and when I listened to it months later I was amazed at how poignant it suddenly was. Musically I can now see some Beck in there and also a bit of Bauhaus in the bridge, both artists I love.
8. MOON
The moon is an infinite source of inspiration for artists since the beginning of humankind. Cadiz beaches are my favourite beaches in the world. The proximity to Africa gives them a special light especially at night under a full moon. I was there in the Summer of 2020 and wrote this song on a beach called El Palmar. Moon includes a sample of a song I did when I was fourteen with a Casio SK-1 so it’s a special one for me. That sample was used as a starting point and gave the beat a jungle touch which I quite like.
9. WITHOUT END
I wrote this song during the second lockdown, you can hear an ambulance passing by at the beginning. I was jamming at my place with Joeri Pronk, a very talented bass player who I’ve written this album with. Without End captures that moment of human fragility that the pandemic shone a light on and how insignificant we are in the big scheme of things. I was trying to transmit a peaceful and meditative feeling to detach us from stress. When I listen to music closely, it has the power to suspend time, to press pause on the velocity of disaster that robs our attention and predetermines our future.
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