Guitarricadelafuente’s new album and film debut explore a poetic journey of identity, self-discovery, and longing

I think it's been super special the fact that we started the tour at the same time that the album was releasing. I mean, the first concert was 2 days after the album was released. People didn't know all of the songs on the album.

But it was a very beautiful experience because people at the first concert were kind of taking their time to listen to those songs. I think in the last 6 shows that we've done, the response of the public and the fans has been amazing, we've been getting to venues bigger than ever and everybody’s starting to come to the shows and sing out loud all of the songs, even the new ones more than the old songs.

I'm feeling that energy completely from part of the audience. I think these shows and this album have a different approach from the last ones. I think there's this willingness to share this energy with the audience, rather than trying to find this emotion inside. This is a much more open album. These songs are thought to [be shared] with the people.

I think when you start building a career in your country, you evolve with the people that have been following you for the last 7 years. And it’s fun because when you get to a new country, it’s like, "OK, how do you explain all of these 7 years or how do you explain the point you’re at to this new audience?"

When you’re trying to present a third album and invite people to get into your world, it’s kind of starting over again, you know, like starting as a new character or as a new artist. And it’s kind of fun.

Well, that would be kind of the idea, to do this first show in New York in July and hopefully get back next year and tour other cities around the US.

Well, I think for sure the starting point for this new path was 3 years ago when I was finishing 'La Cantera' tour, my first album’s tour. It was an album really inspired by traditional music and the folklore I grew up around in my hometown.

It was a homage to all of this heritage that I lived with. I’ve always thought about my vision with folklore and traditional music, it’s something really attached to the past in a way. 

For example, when everybody starts working on a musical project with folklore, it’s kind of as if you get this automatic approval as if there’s something you need to respect because you’re working with folklore and representing something respected for so many generations.

There was something about that that seemed kind of boring to me. I was thinking that in this album you can feel the story of a young boy who runs away from his village and tries to get rid of this past or this load of folklore, and tries to discover himself and what the city has to offer him.

In this journey or at the end of this journey, he realizes he cannot get rid of this past. But I think what 'Spanish Leather' represents for me is leather as the representative of your own skin.

I think it has a relationship with craftsmanship in Spain or heritage from the past, but in the end, it’s kind of a feeling that we are the result of the place where we were born by chance, and that our way of perceiving life or expressing ourselves in our own language or humor is the result of where we were born. 

I think it’s something shared with many people. For example, in the last 10 years, at least in Spain—and you can see that in other countries—there’s been this feeling of having grown up with so many references or stimuli that suddenly you don’t know where to hold on.

It seemed that going back to the past, or our origins, or comfort foods, or comfort places, was the place where we felt safe. You can feel that in the music scene in Spain in the last years—this 'going back to the past.'

I felt that this kind of search for belonging, instead of being something attached to your origin, was like looking for something generational, something as a community. Feeling that your thoughts or perception of life is shared by other people of your generation—what you worry about, what you desire.

When I was writing the songs, there were so many people involved also because of the wish of wanting to look for approval—knowing if what you think is shared or just yourself thinking it. I feel there’s something generational in the lyrics of this album, and I find that super emotional.

I think the starting point was a willingness to go back and sing a song by myself with my guitar and my voice, and that’s it. Trying to write a song that is recognizable just with the chords and melody, putting production and all the details of the sound in a second or even third place.

There was also inspiration from the movement or what I saw around me—this journey of living the past. It’s kind of an imaginary travel where this guy gets out of his hometown and faces the present and what postmodern times represent—for example, all the stimuli, the media, and how everything runs faster than our capacity to understand it.

I started to see the poetry in all of this instead of looking at it negatively.

There was something super attractive about it, and the fact of letting go of all this. I could feel this in the writing process—when something sounded good in my head or a word attracted me, there was no going back. If I feel it at that moment, it needs to go to the sound.

It’s been super liberating in a way, just obeying what your instinct tells you and building the song around that primitive feeling.

Oh, for sure. I completely believe that ever since I started sharing my songs, the visuals, covers, and all the art that goes around the songs build 50% of the whole project.

I think that in today’s music, as a listener, when I get attracted to a project, 50% of the weight comes from the visuals or the inner world of the artist. It’s always something I’ve tried to curate—that the visuals accompany the songs and represent every step of the process, or every specific time of your career.

I would say there’s a big inspiration—at least in the last album—from Pasolini and his sensual videos, finding poetry in sensuality.

There’s always a bunch of references, not always the same ones. When working on a different video, you go for something different or specific.

For example, in the 'Tramontana' video, what we were looking for was a one-take video where you could feel a 60s-70s Italian vibe, super classical, focusing on the song and the performance only.

I tried to escape from the bucolic, romantic, naive world around my last album, trying to get rid of the filters, to get the real scent of 'Spanish Leather.'

Not doing calm, cinematographic films, but videos where you feel the sense of the song, and you’re not telling too many stories at once.

We’ve just started the first rehearsals and the first readings of the script. We’re in the middle of a tour and getting ready for many things. It’s going to be super intense. I wouldn’t have said yes if I wasn’t going to give my 100%.

I think the story of the film and the album I just did share similar characters. I think it’s going to be a super intense but exciting journey.

The directors, Los Javis, involve many people who don’t usually act and guide them to places where they can shine, where they can represent what they do best.

Taking part in this film with Penélope Cruz and the cast is going to be amazing and super inspirational.