Proper concert: La Nau, Valls, Abril 20, 20h
The Weight of the World is the debut album from Barcelona-based band Morningblind, composed and arranged by Sandra Bossy-Retti with lyrics by Richard Hayden and Sandra Bossy-Retti.
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Morningblind are: Sandra-Bossy Retti: composer/singer/multi-instrumentalist & Richard Hayden: lyricist/guitarist
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Morningblind have set out to forge a distinctive path, starting out with the changing rhythms and tempos of the art-rock-influenced opening track through spare, lo-fi synth-soaked songs using looped and live ukuleles and jangling guitars to the central stand-out track The Caller and back again to the final, dream-like vibe of the album’s closer – Winter Dance. Throughout Sandra Bossy-Retti’s vocals soar, adding emotional heft to lyrics that seek out the beauty and glory that lies beneath our relationships with each other and society.
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Morningblind have been performing and releasing music since 2017 when their EP, The Spring, was released as a digital download. Since then the band has performed in Catalonia and around Europe, spending the last year putting the finishing touches to their LP, co-produced and mixed by Nico Roig (www.nicoroig.com). The album, which features 11 original tracks, has been mastered by Graeme Durham at The Exchange Studios, London. Graeme has been responsible for mastering singles and albums for musicians as diverse as U2, The White Stripes, Bjork, Nick Cave, and The Kills. The cover features the distinctive work of the Chicago artist Anthony Christopher.
This is a record that’s inspired by a massively eclectic range of musical influences and by the desire to talk about our own experiences. We have come to this later in life and that gives us a radically different perspective on the classic tropes of popular music – love, relationships, society. Yearning for the unattainable and coping with its unattainability, the beauty and nobility in suffering, honesty, truth, these are all recurrent elements. The songs combine darkness and beauty, accessibility and complexity.
The lyrics for this album have been culled from diary entries, messages to our son, reflections on how love changes and is transformed in a long-term relationship, there are reactions to current events and sometimes just a reaction to the music itself.
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Some of these songs began life many years ago and have likewise gone through transformations and changes. Musically, Black Sheep is substantially similar to earlier incarnations of the song, but the lyrics have altered beyond all recognition. For one thing they’re in English now and the previous version was in Catalan. On the other hand, Cars & Trains (a very early and very different version of which is on our EP, The Spring) retains the lyrics of an earlier version but has undergone a radical musical metamorphosis, enhancing it with a more complex and sophisticated musical structure.
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Reinvention is part of who we are. We have both worked on different artistic projects over the years. Richard is a published novelist (The Influencing Engine, Transworld Publishers) and playwright (co-writer with Terry Jones on Gargantua & Pantagruel, adapting a highly praised version of Mishima’s Tropical Tree). Sandra was a hugely accomplished dancer, specifically a tap dancer, something that still underlines her incredible musicality and feeling for rhythm. Her dancing took her to many places; she performed in Spain and London’s West End and made many appearances on TV. This theatrical background gives us a sense of drama which informs the structure and mood of our songs.
