New album 'El Refugio' out Nov 26 on Fuzz Club Records
Mexican five-piece Sei Still are today sharing ‘Exilio’, the third single to be lifted from their incoming ‘El Refugio’ LP that’s due out November 26th on Fuzz Club. Following their 2020 self-titled debut, the new album marks a number of changes for the band. Not only have they upped sticks and moved from Mexico City to Berlin, but their sound has undergone a process of evolution too. Where the debut LP was an exercise in mesmerising Krautrock channeling the likes of Neu! and Can, ‘El Refugio’ trades the debut’s more expansive and hypnotic tendencies for a collection of dark punk vignettes. A piece of taut, motorik post-punk indebted to Spanish New Wave, ‘Exilio’ is available to stream below.
Talking about the ‘El Refugio’ LP – which is also preceded by recent singles ‘Me Persigue’ and ‘Extrarradio’, as well as a packed out UK tour last month – Sei Still said: “The biggest influence on this record was the fact that our personal lives had a radical change and we felt the need to do something different, to dig deeper into the possibilities of what the band was about. We never wanted to make the same record twice.” The move from Mexico to Germany was enough of an upheaval in and of itself, but considering they did so mere weeks before entering lockdown gives one possible explanation as to why the new material feels more emotive and visceral than before.
Expressionist rather than psychedelic in intent, they say that the songs on ‘El Refugio’ “allude to childhood, dreams, desire, loneliness, paranoia and hope. A longing for a different reality that breaks the monotony of daily life. It's more about sensations than something you can describe in words. I think what makes music great is that it has to be experienced so we try to part from a specific mood or emotion, which is something very abstract that people can interpret in their own way.”
Sei Still is composed of Sebastián Rojas (Organ / Synths), Mateo Sánchez Galán (Guitar), Jerónimo Martín (Drums / Percussion), Andrés Lupone and Lucas Martín (Vocals / Guitar). The band was con concieved when they decided to take a random trip to some desolate woodlands outside of Mexico City to work on a couple of songs that would end up leading them to start a fully-fledged band. With just a couple of singles behind them (2017’s ‘Oto’ and 2019’s ‘Tácticas de Guerilla Urbana’), they soon picked up a fast-growing reputation in Mexico – sharing the stage with the likes of Stereolab, Kikagaku Moyo, Institute & Lorelle Meets The Obsolete – before signing to the London-based label Fuzz Club Records for their 2020 self-titled debut album, which quickly solidified a new European fan-base for the band.
Now based in Berlin, the forthcoming ‘El Refugio’ LP is undoubtedly set to expand on that success; preceded as it is by UK tour-dates, headline dates in Berlin and stages soon to be shared with the likes of Faust IV, Beak, The KVB, A Place To Bury Strangers and label-mates The Underground Youth.
UPCOMING SHOWS
19-20/11 - Berlin (DE) - Synästhesie Festival
SEI STILL LINKS
https://www.facebook.com/SeiStillBand
