After registering a galley and traveling the world playing at being pirates, El Pony Pisador has spread its wings to embark on Ocells, the fifth album by one of the most well-known and hilarious groups of Catalan folk, with which they aspire to take a leap in his career. To achieve this they have not minded (well, a little) giving up a part of their DNA and adapting to the most popular tastes some themes with which they approach Catalan traditions for the first time, mixed with the sounds to which they are accustomed, bridging Celtic, Scottish, Balkan or bluegrass music, to which they now add Mediterranean roots in the form of jota, polka, contradanza and of course sardana. All in an album that, according to its somewhat absurd coordinates, was born from a recurring joke because “words with two L's make us Pony people laugh.”
“When we played abroad we performed songs with Anglo-Saxon roots but none from here, and they asked us why,” reasons Ramon Anglada about the umpteenth musical mutation of the band, which had previously published two albums of sea shanties, traditional sailors' songs. , with notable international success. “In the Mediterranean area there is a whole sound that we like but we had never explored, and it is easier to make yourself known in other countries if you make songs from your land.”
That does not mean changing style, but rather adapting the traditional music of Mediterranean countries to the frenetic rhythm of El Pony Pisador, a demanding process when adapting Catalan folk, which is more linked to dance. “If you play too fast you can't dance, this is where “Rafa el Garrafa, el gafarró del Garraf” comes from, which goes at about 70 bpm and we have raised it to 160.”
As can be inferred from the title of the song, and from others such as “The Emu War”, a true story with a surreal title, the absurd humor has not abandoned the quintet formed by Adrià Vila (mandolin and bordan), Guillem Codern (banjo, harmonica and Tuvan singing), Miquel Pérez (fiddle, percussions), Martí Selga (recorder, whistler and double bass) and Ramon Anglada (guitar and accordion). It is the band's hallmark, although more than seeking it it was born from their musical interests, or disinterest when it comes to the lyrics.
“The music we take most seriously is instrumental music, lyrics are only an obligation because people need to have lyrics and choruses,” a need they perceive when singing in English, with which they do not achieve the same success. On the contrary, "songs where there is a joke are more successful, that's why we have to write lyrics that say something, even if it's "the meu pare is a format" or the first thing that comes to mind."
“There is no audience for instrumental music,” says Miquel, “it is music for musicians, and if you don't understand music you can't enjoy it.” “No matter how complicated the lyrics are due to their complexity, philosophy or feelings, they will always be better than the instrumental,” adds Adrià, at the same time downplaying the importance of this issue. “I don't think many of the people who sing Oques Grasses songs know exactly what literary metaphor the chorus refers to, but since you can sing it, it's great.”
When you have the quintet in front of you and see them joking non-stop, it is easier to understand that they have composed most of the songs while walking, as happened with “El llom del diplodocus”, from “Jaja greetings”, lyrics born in New York on the way to the natural history museum to see the bones of the extinct animal. However, in this 'Ocells' that they are now presenting they have put the brakes on humor to configure “serious” songs such as 'L'Espantaocells', 'Ala Negra' or 'Strelitzia' (with the collaboration of Tarta Relena) while at the same time They have shortened the length of the songs to adapt them to live performance.
“This album is much more thought out than the previous ones, everything has a reason for it,” and that reason is called festival major. “If you are in Catalonia it is the only solution, the folk circle are small format concerts where the important part is the dancing.”
“We have had to make quite a few creative resignations because if we play according to what things at a major party, people leave,” says Ramon. Hence the concept of “stonk”, which is referred to at the end of the sardana “Els animals més bells”, a meme that refers to the search for economic benefits. “We picked it up to remember that we have to live from the group,” adds Adrià, “it is what has led us to decide that if a song lasts 7 minutes we should remove two or three, or eliminate repetitions when they are not essential.”
The objective is to find a balance between the two audiences, folk lovers and those who seek fun at popular festivals without giving up their essence. “We want to bring folk to other circles, it's great that a mandolin plays in Viñarock,” says Miquel.
