Recent images of citizens receiving the first doses of the COVID vaccine allow us to contemplate the arrival of the new year with well-founded optimism. If in the darkest days of the Great Confinement music did not fall silent ---quite the opposite, it accompanied and encouraged us---, the scenario opening at the gates of 2021 includes a series of new releases that speak very positively of the talent of local musicians. We comment on the most outstanding ones, followed by some reflections from music promoters on the horizon that is emerging for the full recovery of live performances, which in the opinion of these interlocutors will be progressive and will require some support from the administrations.
Waiting for the big day, we have more concrete forecasts. This is the case of Parc, the new album by Ferran Palau. It is the fifth solo release from the metaphysical author from Esparreguera, whose release is announced for February. Songs marked by minimalism and synthesizers form the bulk of a production that, according to sources from his office, will also be characterized by a certain homage to 1980s slasher cinema. To get a feel for it, we can delight ourselves with the track that will open his new work, Reflexe, whose music video was released a few days ago.
For her part, Judit Neddermann will finally release Aire, which was initially scheduled to appear in 2020. According to the artist's own statements, it will retain trademarks such as acousticness and intimate lyrics, but with a more pop bias and a greater proportion of Castilian in the tracklist. Singles like Luna give us clues about the work, which is expected to appear throughout the first quarter. In this same period, initiatives such as Sota, cavall i rei have also been announced, in which the group Fetus will put the songs from the repertoire of the great Jaume Arnella through a punk-garage filter. Also a brand new delivery of committed singer-songwriter music by Cesk Freixas.
Already in April, a big splash is expected from Love of Lesbian with V.E.H.N., an acronym for Viaje épico hacia la nada (Epic Journey to Nothingness), which is also the first of the twelve songs that make up this work. Artists such as Bunbury or Cristina Martínez and Álbaro Arizaleta, members of El Columpio Asesino, have collaborated with the group from Baix Llobregat in the recording of an album that we already know in part thanks to the preview of the song Cosmos (Antisistema solar) at the end of November.
As the group's leader, Santi Balmes, has indicated, this song is a kind of hinge that connects V.E.H.N. with the band's previous studio album, El poeta Halley (2016), clarifying that the rest of the songs are much more earthly. And it is that, as Balmes himself has pointed out, we will find a work with a rather angry tone in the social sphere, which in the strictly musical goes through more raw episodes and others that celebrated with eighties pop-rock.
Still in spring, a new work by the unclassifiable Joan Colomo is planned, which we will have to pay close attention to. We will also have to follow the trail that points to new releases in June from Tarta Relena, the vocal duo formed by Marta Torrella and Helena Ros who, applying a sense of humor, define their proposal as "folk tronadet i georgià progressiu". The expectations they have raised are high after the two records they have released so far, complemented by a large number of collaborations with artists of all kinds.
Equally notable expectations exist around the popular Joan Dausà, who will release an album in autumn. However, his supporters will not have to wait that long to hear the songs, as Dausà will preview them in four concerts scheduled for June 25 and 26 and July 2 and 3, when he will officiate the show Respira in a setting as emblematic as the ruins of Empúries.
The record forecasts for the new year speak very positively of the talent of musicians from CataloniaThe list ---necessarily limited and provisional--- of next year's Catalan production also includes works without a specific release date or title, but which generate undeniable interest. Thus, we will have the pleasure of savoring the second album of María Arnal i Marcel Bagés, who in 2017 surprised everyone with the wise mix of tradition and avant-garde of45 brains and 1 heart. In the absence of further details, we have some indication of its possible content thanks to the performance the duo gave in September at the Mercat de Música Viva de Vic, where they offered new songs such asMiracle,VenturaandBehind me.
The album comeback of the singer-songwriter from Solsona Roger Mas after his magnificent Parnàs from 2018 truly promises, as he will celebrate his 25 years of artistic career with Set flors, a compendium of newly composed songs among which we find songs dedicated to the winemaker Raül Bobet and the chef Carme Ruscalleda. Also pay attention to the new releases announced by the veteran Loquillo, the fantastic Hermanos Cubero or the tireless Marina Rossell for this 2021.
THE FUTURE OF LIVE PERFORMANCE
What we have seen so far --and the surprises that artists and record labels have prepared for us-- forms the raw material of the musical act, the creation of new repertoires. However, this industry hinges on a second equally important pillar, both for the enjoyment of fans and for the survival of the performer. As we have seen and continue to see, the restrictive measures of the pandemic have caused a great impact on live music, a situation that we hope to progressively correct throughout the coming year.
Consulted separately, concert promoters Tito Ramoneda, from The Project (Barcelona Jazz Festival, Porta Ferrada Festival...), and Martín Pérez, from Concert Studio (Mil·lenni Festival, Pedralbes Gardens Festival...), agreed in pointing out first that the public's desire for live music is a very important factor to consider when addressing the issue.
Promoters warn that the recovery of live activity will be progressive and that aid will be necessaryPérez has been particularly optimistic, convinced that "enext summer will be the best in our professional history. I work with the forecast that in 2021 I will be able to hold concerts with the same capacity I had in 2019, always in outdoor spaces, although I expect there will be measures such as masks or other rules set by the authorities. I am hiring artists based on this forecast, making it clear that if capacities are finally reduced, we will have to renegotiate," he reveals.
Admitting the same uncertainty as his sector colleague, Ramoneda also believes that there will be a turning point in live music with the arrival of good weather: "My impression is that by late spring or early summer we will be able to start up with some normality, although I would put very big question marks on concerts with standing audiences. I think this will take longer, perhaps we will have to wait until autumn-winter 2021 to experience this again. But for this summer, I am confident that we will be practically at one hundred percent in the case of outdoor capacities and with the audience seated," he indicates.
However things go, it seems clear that the absolute resumption will take time, and that in addition to energy and optimism, it will also require some support from institutions. "This situation ---points out Martín Pérez--- has left many wounded, and more than wounded. The sector is not just musicians and promoters, but also all the people who provide various services. I don't want to be overly critical, but the aid that has been available so far has not reached everyone, and more will be needed, at least for a couple of years."
In the same vein, Tito Ramoneda is in favor of a two-stage rescue plan: "There is a first step ---he considers--- which is to save all companies, to ensure that the day we can return to full performance, these companies are indeed still alive. This must be done right now, and must subsequently be followed by another recovery and aid plan for when normality is established," he concludes.