With its mix of languages and styles, Lux by Rosalía has blurred many boundaries that exist in music. It is a transformative, accomplished work, with complex arrangements and if so, it is also thanks to the talents that the singer and producers Noah Goldstein and Dylan Wiggins involved in making it. Icelandic conductor Daníel Bjarnason has been called upon to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra, which is present in every piece, and to act as executive producer. He is someone who worked with Sigur Rós in the past, as well as having debuted in 2010 with Processions. The orchestrations were entrusted to Kyle Daniel Gordon, who made a name for himself thanks to the soundtracks of Oppenheimer And Bridgerton. Among the performers who support the Spanish are Yahritza of the band Yahritza y su Esencia and the Portuguese Carminho, as well as naturally Björk and Yves Tumor. We asked some of them to tell us about the album (our review at this link).
Daníel Bjarnason (conductor)
«I was surprised to discover that the orchestra had to be a fundamental part of all the songs. Not the usual embellishment, but an integral part of the pieces. And then the audacity with which he used it… A good example is naturally offered by Berghain where first there are these intricate, bold strings and then the orchestra slows down. It means that you are willing to take risks and that you are not afraid to flex your muscles. When we talk about pop records with orchestra we usually think of something other than Lux».
«They had an idea of what they were looking for, but it was crude. And once in the studio Rosalía and Noah were open to all possibilities and willing to experiment with sounds and textures. Rosalía was involved in every single note that was played there, and in the best way, she is a curious, open artist, with a clear vision of what she wants and doesn't want. And so he's the best kind of artist to collaborate with.”
«The arches in Relic they sound wonderfully good. I'm satisfied with how it turned out, many of the orchestral parts are magnificent. My Christ cries diamonds is perhaps my favorite on the album, at least at the moment. I love the orchestral crescendo of that piece and of Magnolias. The beauty of the album is that it doesn't try to be something it isn't. It goes in many different directions, but always using the heart, so to speak. At the center of every song are the lyrics, the voices, the expressiveness. Everything else is at their service. Rosalía managed to use the sound of the symphony orchestra differently from how it is done in pop. No, these are not simple pop songs.”
Kyle Daniel Gordon (concertor)
«They contacted me from the London Symphony Orchestra, they said that Rosalía was looking for someone to do the orchestrations. Within an hour they invited me to their studio here in Los Angeles, where I met Rose, Noah Goldstein and the others who were working on the project. They had some orchestral sketches and so I got an idea of what they wanted to achieve. For example, Berghain it had an operatic nature from the beginning. It reminded me of Requiem by Mozart or the Don Giovannithose operatic pieces from the late eighteenth century. Since I wanted to emulate that sound, I limited the orchestration to what would have been possible to play at the end of the eighteenth century.”
«One of my favorite passages is in Porcelain. For a bass line we used a contrabass clarinet, which is a clarinet almost eight feet long. I told Noah that we needed to organize a session just for woodwinds and that we needed a double bass clarinet. I was with them in the studio and saw them fall in love with the sounds of the orchestra. There was no need for 808, we used the contrabass clarinet or the tuba. It was a dream to have the chance to create art for art's sake. And what we did became incredibly popular. What more could you wish for?”.
Yahritza ('The Pearl')
«It happened suddenly. One day when I woke up I found a message from the manager. He said that Rosalía wanted to collaborate with us. I was so happy that I ran to my brother Mando's room and we started jumping for joy. When I heard the piece I was speechless. The production was crazy and let's not talk about the lyrics, stuff that makes the world want to sing it. They are words of truth and therefore I knew that many people would find themselves with them. The production, the lyrics, the emotion: the whole album is an absolute masterpiece. If there's one thing I love about Rosalía's voice, it's that it can take you into different worlds and make you feel a wide range of emotions. Breathtaking stuff. And then it's crazy that an artist like her noticed a band from a small town like ours, it's proof that anything is possible if you stick with it. We will be forever grateful to her.”
Carminho ('Memória')
«I wrote Memory for my record and I sent it to him to see if he wanted to collaborate. His answer seemed significant to me: “How important is this song for your project?”. I explained to her that it was very important and she told me that she wanted it for her record. We talked about the meaning and the role it would have on the album and at that point I decided. It was an honor that he wanted to keep it. Shortly afterwards she asked me if I wanted to sing it with her.”
“In the song there is a person who says: 'Do you remember me? Do you know where I come from? Do you know me?' As the song progresses, we understand that that person is actually talking to himself: do I still know myself? Have I changed? Who was I and who am I? For me it is a powerful message and fits well into the story that Rosalía tells in the album, in her journey.”
«In fado we use to take a traditional melody and write a text on it. The one you feel in Memory is a traditional composition by Armando Machado. By putting it on the album, Rosalía introduces fado to many people and that's important. And then he sings it very well.”
From Rolling Stone US.
