The Red Room They continue to tease songs from their upcoming work. Now it’s the turn of “Las olas”, a piece that exudes melancholy and nostalgia in a good way.
In “Las olas”, La Habitaciones Roja evoke that kind of nostalgia that makes us remember our childhood and youth, in this case through moments lived on the Valencian coast decades ago. From there comes the step into the adult world, the lost illusions and joining a world that waits for no one. The song, according to the group itself, recalls “the Mediterranean via Serrat, but also the Caribbean via Semilla Negra by Radio Futura, the Atlantic via Xoel López or even the Cantabrian via Nacho Vegas.”
On the other hand, the song joins the other four previously released songs, which are “Svalbard”, “Los Seres Queridos”, “El Duelo” and “La vida fundido”. In this case, it opts for an acoustic sound ideal for listening to during these calm summer days, as close to the sea as possible. Below the video clip you can read Jorge’s words about the song, and they are worth reading.
“Las ondaes” was recorded at the Ultramarinos Costa Brava studios in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, with production by Santi Garcia and mastering by Victor Garcia. It also has the collaboration of Marc Clos to the vibraphone and percussion.
In Jorge’s words:
On August 24, 2023, while traveling from Norway to Spain, I came up with some melodies in mid-flight and automatically recorded them in a voice note on my cell phone so I wouldn’t forget them, arousing the surprise of the passengers traveling with me. I pretended not to notice and began a lyric sketch in which the phrase “we will jump the waves again” stood out. I always, even in the darkest moments, keep hope for the future. Every time something extraordinary happens to me, and writing a song is one of the most extraordinary things, I remember the people I love the most and I strongly wish that we can feel again the happiness we felt when we played with laughter at jumping the waves.
The flight was approaching its destination and as we flew over the Mediterranean coast I knew that the lyrics had to refer to the sea that bathed my childhood, my adolescence and my adulthood. I finished the song three days later at the home of Santi Garcia, the producer of the song. There, in Sant Feliu de Guíxols and in the Ultramarinos Costa Brava studios, we proceeded to record it just as a few years earlier we had done with already legendary songs from our discography such as Indestructibles or Ayer.
From the very beginning I wanted it to be an organic song, in which the nylon strings of a Spanish guitar sounded and which had reminiscences of the sea, of summer, of our land, and that the palette of sounds and influences that it would mix would take us not only to the Mediterranean through Serrat, but also to the Caribbean via Semilla Negra by Radio Futura, to the Atlantic via Xoel López or even to the Cantabrian Sea via Nacho Vegas. This had to be our vision of the Mediterranean, aspiring to fuse in its lyrics all my longings, dreams and sorrows. The awakening to love, the homage to it, with all that fragility and vulnerability that an emotional voice can transmit.
This song also contains loss, longing, grief and at the same time the hope that somewhere safe from the filth and dust that haunt us, well-understood romanticism, beauty and the infinite blue of all our experiences and memories will remain forever. References to Sufjan Stevens and Elliot Smith came to the fore during the recording, but above all we agreed that we had to sound like ourselves in an environment like the one that surrounded us in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. During those precious days inspiration surrounded us: we were sailing in a boat on the sea, diving and bathing on evocative beaches, soaking up the culture that has seen us grow up. We climbed the mountains surrounding Sant Feliu to see the sun rise over the Mediterranean, we travelled along the coast in our free time, even reaching Colliure, in the south of France, where we visited the tomb of Antonio Machado on which there was a painted stone with the legend “walker, your footprints are the path and nothing more”. That led us inevitably back to Serrat.
When I had the final lyrics, I started playing them in the room where I slept, and when I finished, Santi and his girlfriend started applauding and cheering me effusively from the terrace. Pau, after listening to it, told me that we had to record it no matter what, that it could be one of the best songs of our career. And so we did.
Back in Sant Feliu, crossing the French-Spanish border at La Jonquera, we listened to several Serrat albums in the van, including the famous Mediterráneo. That same day, during dinner, I told Santi that the song had to have all those references, including the “Chanson française”. The next day, in the studio, the circle was closed. Pau, more motivated than ever, took charge of the instrumentation, I took charge of the vocals and Marc, driven by the seaside air that we wanted to give to the song, accompanied it at Santi’s request with a bass with clear habanera reminiscences. When the song was already recorded, we called Marc Clos to give it the final touch with his vibraphone and percussion, which included all kinds of instruments, from maracas and claves to tambourines and the triangle, which has a presence as magical as the song itself that was born and which we baptized as “Las Olas”. Sometimes the parts of a song are brilliant, but greatness is found when the end result is more than the sum of the parts.
We are convinced that “Las Olas” has been a classic since its birth. We hope that the wind carries its voice everywhere and the echo of its melodies resonates in more hearts than ours.”
