Inspired by Can, Neu!, Spanish New-Wave and Tarkovsky's ‘Stalker’, the debut album from the Mexico City group is out now
Today marks the release of the debut album from Sei Still and we’re so excited to get it out in the world! Out now, the Mexican Krautrock band say the seven-track album is inspired by the likes of Can and NEU! as well as “Tarkovsky's ‘Stalker’, ‘Easy Rider’ (the concept of the road has always been a present image of our collective imaginary) and the aesthetics of Spanish new-wave bands like Aviador Dro and Décima Víctima.” You can read all about the record and stream it in full below.
Though delivered with Sei Still’s own distorted touch, the album’s eponymous opening-track ‘Blumenkriege’ recalls Stereolab at their most Kraut; the unrelenting motorik instrumentation overlaid with lush ethereal vocals courtesy of close friend Mabe Fratti and swirling analogue synths. ‘El Camino’, which they say “represents the group's idea of movement, something that's never static and is always changing, like life itself” is a driving NEU!-esque wig-out, propelled by a sharp repetitive bassline so tight you can physically feel the tension building and building, never letting loose for a second. That propulsive energy is carried through to ‘Emision’ and paired with menacing feedback-heavy guitars and ominous atmospherics.
In the album’s second half, songs like ‘Fortuna’ and ‘Television’ fuse those motorik sensibilities with eerie spoken-word vocals, hypnotic synths and phaser-heavy guitars that drag the bands sound into more psychedelic territory. The album then wrapping up with the penultimate ‘Ladron’ – a piece of dark manipulated drone a la Spacemen 3 – and the sprawling 10-minute album-closer ‘Tácticas de Guerrilla Urbana’ which stretches the Sei Still sound to its outermost limits, in the most gloriously trance-inducing way.
Though their taut, driving Krautrock might scream of West Germany, Sei Still are, in fact, a five-piece band hailing from Mexico City. Their machine-like sonic experimentations emerging not out acid-fuelled jam sessions in some underground communal space tucked away in this or that German city but, instead, three friends taking a random trip to desolate Mexican woodland to work on a couple of songs that would end up leading them to start a fully-fledged band.
It was Lucas Martin (Guitar/Vocals), Mateo Sanches (Guitar/Vocals) and Andres Lupone (Bass/Vocals) that would embark on that formative woodland excursion but, now fleshed out into a full band, they’re also joined by Sebastian Rojas (Synth/Organ) and Jeronimo Martin (Drums). The record itself also bolstered by the production of Hugo Quezada, who they describe as “an icon from the Mexican underground scene and a true synthesizer aficionado.”
Now ready to transmit their angular Krautrock to a trans-Atlantic audience, Sei Still have spent the last few years cultivating a notorious reputation in their native Mexico, sharing the stage with the likes of Stereolab, Kikagaku Moyo, Holy Wave, Institute, New Candys, 10 000 Russos and Lorelle Meets the Obsolete. You can buy the album on vinyl here and digital here.
