Biography:

Exactly one year after she announced she was leaving La Oreja de Van Gogh, quitting the band at its most successful moment, the singer-composer started an adventure that kept her busy for 12 intense and difficult months filled with hectic work of composition, production and recording. All that effort was necessary to create Amaia Montero, the album that marks her debut as a solo artist. “I had to start from scratch and mature all of a sudden. I tried to make an honest record, supported by an artistic impulse aimed to express exactly how I am. I needed to follow my own journey, and I faced the risk. This album shows exactly what I am and what I do”, Amaia Montero says about her album. This new record comes after a 10-year period that was filled with continued hits with La Oreja de Van Gogh, a period in which she totally immersed herself, from the composition of all the songs to the development of the first demo tapes and the supervision of the whole recording and mixing process.

Amaia explains this creative development (“It is absurd making a record and not following every single detail of it”, she says) from its conception: “I play the guitar, I know some piano, and those were the two instruments I started working with to compose the songs on this album. Later on, I added a touch of technology using a computer program. I built a small home studio, and I recorded the songs as they were taking shape, using an old cassette recorder. Everything started to take shape very naturally. After that process I worked with a sound engineer, Bori Alarcón, who knows me very well, and he’s known me for a long time and he has always respected my work. I recorded all the demo tapes with him. We enjoyed several magical working experiences, from late 2007 to June 2008, both in my parents’ home and also in Irún. Everything was very home-made. I felt I was surrounded by tranquility, loneliness, and I faced a few difficult moments as well”.

After recording her first demo tapes, Amaia Montero started to develop those songs with prestigious Italian producer Claudio Guidetti (who previously worked with Eros Ramazzotti, Angelo Branduardi, Laura Pausini, Francesco De Gregori, Gianni Morandi and Umberto Tozzi, among other artists). “Claudio totally captured what I wanted to create, joining both new and traditional styles, focusing all his attention on the songs and avoiding an excessive production”, Amaia adds. She worked very closely to Claudio during all the process: “I was there all the time, from the first decision to the last one. It’s very hard for me to express what I felt, but musically I felt totally comfortable. I am totally responsible for all this work”.

Amaia Montero and Claudio Guidetti worked hard in the pre-production of the album in Genoa (Italy). Once the record was shaped, at Eros Ramazzotti’s studios in Milan they recorded the songs, supported by a band formed by Claudio Guidetti himself (guitars and keyboards), Paolo Costa (bass), Alfredo Golino (drums) and Fabio Moretti (main guitar). “Even Eros Ramazzotti plays the guitar in one of the songs, and Bori added some vocals at some point”, Amaia adds. “What I lived in Italy is totally different from everything else I’ve done before. I loved the feeling of being myself. I will never forget this first album”.

Both the mixes and the last recording touches took place at the Henson Recording Studio in Los Angeles, and they were developed by Mike Tacci, who previously worked with such prestigious artists as Thomas Dolby, Cheap Trick, Tori Amos, Metallica, Eros Ramazzotti and Diego Torres. Located in the heart of Hollywood, Henson Recording Studios were founded by Charlie Chaplin en 1917. His studios witnessed recordings by Phil Spector, Herb Alpert and Sergio Mendes in the ‘60s, The Supremes, The Doors and Carole King in the ‘70s, U2, The Police and Bruce Springsteen in the ‘80s, The Rolling Stones, Soundgarden and Metallica in the ‘90s and Paul McCartney, Alicia Keys and Shakira in the first decade of the 21st century. “Charlie Chaplin’s footsteps are there”, Amaia says. “When we started working on our background vocals in those studios, I could feel what an extraordinary experience I was experiencing. After that, I continued to learn how the best things are done”.

The result of this process is Amaia Montero, the debut album of this artist from San Sebastian as a solo artist, an album that starts with Quiero ser, the album’s first single. “I want to be a quiet, clear word. I want to be a free soul in the dawn. I want to enjoy your delirious mouth and those wishes one night you transformed into this pain”, Amaia sings in a song that starts with a certain vintage influence, present in its sound with Spanish guitar, supported by simple, effective arrangements and by the use of unusual music instruments, such as “auto-harp”, a sound balance with a touch of the ‘60s and amazingly performed by Amaia. “This song talks about me, about what I’d feel if I’d find the perfect love of my life. It also shows what I would like in that moment. This is a personal song, a real declaration of my intentions”.

The album continues with Mirando al mar (“Tell me, honey, what’s worse, seeing how you leave me or staying until the end””), a mid-tempo song wrapped in an excellent atmosphere, with spectacular back up vocals and a powerful chorus. This song is followed by 4’’ (“I’m looking for a love to tell me I’m real, I’m looking for the way to always be myself”), a lively song that mixes personal feelings and reaffirmations, also supported by a strong chorus that shapes the whole song. 407 (“The harbor fell asleep waiting for your return, paper boats were weeping, the sea rebelled and gave you all of its strength”) is a song Amaia dedicates to her father. It reflects the strong family feeling present in the whole album. “The power, the stability I have I get it from my family. From them I recover my whole essence, and this song is totally impregnated with those feelings”, Amaia says about this slow song, filled with a solid rhythm, shaped by the sound of an emotional, intimate, fragile piano.

The next song, Tulipán, comes as a tribute to her former colleagues from La Oreja de Van Gogh, (“I will always miss you, all the rest of the things they say are just lies. You will always be my four angels, and I will remember that for as long as I’ll live”). “I needed to explain what I felt and how much I love them. This is a tribute to all those years we shared. The split was difficult and I thought about it very deeply. The hardest part was the personal side, but there remains a lot of love and a huge respect for all we lived together”, Amaia says about this powerful song, one of the catchiest and liveliest of the whole album. After this one comes Ni puedo ni quiero (“Sometimes I try to survive living small things, sometimes I tell myself I need a happy ending”) includes a “frontier-rock” influence, with a sound of metals that remind us of Mexican music, a dynamic progression and a certain retro atmosphere.

Te falta rock (“If you could see the wings on my body, if you could give my life to rock ‘n’ roll, if you could see the north in my dreams, if you could give your soul to my own reason”) is another important song in the album. This is a unique mid-tempo track, with a well developed melody that shows a powerful crescendo. Later on, Círculos (“Today I found myself walking in tiny circles leading nowhere; today I’d give anything to leave this lie and to give myself to a world where love gets lost in a corner. I’m still looking for the place where you and I lose this game”) is one of the most energetic songs in the album, a good example of Amaia Montero’s pop, an imaginative, restless artist who enjoys facing new changes and challenges and who’s always looking for new, personal, innovative styles.

We’re approaching the final part of the album. In La bahía del silencio (“Today you laugh at those who want to disguise your spirit in the image of a bimbo who can’t think for herself”), Amaia opens her feelings wrapped in an energetic funk-pop rhythm, in another autobiographical, rhythmically introspective song, whose title is based on an Italian landscape that shares with this song the same sea-scent that is also present in many of the songs on the album. Te voy a decir una cosa (“I’m not an easy person, you know that. You tied up my wings. I can’t live without your hands, and with your calm I manage to keep moving”) is dedicated to Amaia’s mother, and it features a retro-rhythm similar to the one we find in Quiero ser. The result is a warm song with reminiscences to the music of the ‘50s and ‘60s, and with the sound of a trumpet that adds a touch of Latin rhythm. Closing the album we find Por toda una vida (“Today I want to play the whole game, today I will renounce to the time I lost”) stands out as another song with a sense of affirmation. This is the only track in the album in which Amaia uses programmings, with a strong sense of rhythm that summarizes the spirit of the whole album: “Tonight I will sing for all my life, tonight I will forget I was lost”.

These are the 11 songs included in Amaia Montero’s debut album as a solo artist. “I write songs which are direct and simple, shaped in the heart. All of them are pure songs, and that’s the way I like it”, Amaia says. She composed all the songs in the album, in which she put a lot of expectations. “I value the opinion of the people I care about. That gives me the strength I need to work at my ease”, she says. The album represented “an intense learning process, including learning a few things about me”, she adds. Now, with all her work done, we can only wait for the album’s release on November 18. Later, Amaia Montero will immerse in her live concerts, a series of performances she can hardly wait for. “I really want to go on stage again. That is a magical experience. I’m really looking forward to it, as everything related to a concert is very thrilling. This album is filled with the sound of guitars, it’s very elegant, and I feel well supported by my live band”. All this is just the beginning in this amazing new stage in Amaia Montero’s career.