On August 25, Chilean singer Gepe released his new EP «Realismo», a record that shows a more experimental side of the artist where he surprises us with hits such as «Las 04:40» and which featured the collaboration of artists El David Aguilar and Esteman.

From It Sounds Alternative we had the opportunity to talk to Gepe and the Colombian singer Esteman, about how the release of this EP came about, about their music and specifically about «ANSIEDÁ», the song they released together. 

Will you stay to read what they told us?

E: One of «Annie Hall», from Woody Allen
G: «A Nightmare on Elm Street 3»

G: «El Volantín» by Los Jaivas
E: «Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme» by Simon & Garfunkel, which is one of my favorites

G: Many, there is a song by Manu Chao called «Papito» that I love. I would love to cover it.

E: For me, the other day I had one from Shakira that I would love to cover, the thing is that it was from «Pies Descalzos», I have to check that, but there are several songs from there (the album) that I would cover.

G: Margot Loyola
E: For me many, but at this moment I could say, well recently I was able to hang out with her, Lila Downs

G: Oh I don’t know! I don’t know what they expect or don’t expect, but it could be Mayhem

E: Yes, me too, I was thinking of some reggaeton, but it’s not like I’m such a fan, but I think… A new reggaeton singer that I’m quite liking and that I’ve heard a lot lately, his name is Feid.

G: «Run run se fue pal norte» by Violeta Parra
E: «Lo que construimos» by Natalia Lafourcade

G: The concept of the album is like saying “realism here and now”. And precisely the 3 songs, i mean, there are 4 on the EP, but the first 3 songs, which is «Coquimbo, Mazatlán», «Las 04:40» and «Ansiedá», have to do with the personal ghosts that we have on our heads, they live in our fears, in the ambivalence of those too. Sometimes when one uses a certain fear in our favor it ends up being something nice too, anxiety has many negative things, but we could also say that it allows a certain spontaneity that, let’s say, one can also use in favor, it’s good. So it talks about that, about self-awareness and the neurosis of self-awareness as well. And there is a fourth song that is a bit of a counterweight to these previous ones, about the theme and in terms of production, which is the song «Los 3s», which obviously speaks of the band Los Tres, and of the deep affection I have for that band and especially a song by them and well, that, but the important thing is that the concept in general is «here and now for better and for worse«.

E: I’m a big fan of Gepe, I love him, he’s a person that I admire in many ways and it seemed great to me to be able to do something together one day, he got ahead of me, he proposed it to me first and their team sent me a song. In fact, I listened to it and I loved it from the start, I felt like my voice could contribute something. That’s always important when you do a collaboration, like you don’t feel forced in, and we sing a little bit in the same register, so each voice came out when we sung together and I think that’s one of the things that I like as well, how we worked it out, the harmony that’s in the choir, I love the theme of the song, as I told Gepe from the start, “I feel very identified, I’m a very anxious person” and well, I feel that it’s a matter (the theme of the song) that’s also nice to talk about more and more nowadays, and as Dani said, that it’s not only something always associated with not very good things really, anxiety often makes you do incredible things, right? it makes you work harder, it gives you an impulse to do things, so that’s something that I love, like what can be taken from the song and from this experience of what we did in the video together. Then we left and well, I traveled to Chile, we recorded the video and it was great, yeah, I feel that this obviously, not only the song, but as it reinforces a friendship, and for now lots of love for what is happening with the song and what’s coming to be to sing it live and so on. 

G: La canción habla de la urgencia de tener que hacer algo y que a veces puede ponerte muy nervioso esa urgencia o también puedes ocuparla a tu favor, pero es una canción que es una especie de bolero con bossa nova ¿como le decían a eso? ¿mix tempo? como una canción ni tan lenta ni tan rápida.

G: The song is about the urgency of having to do something, and that sometimes that urgency can make you very nervous or you can also use it in your favor, but it’s a song that is kind of a bolero with bossa nova, what did they call that? mixed tempo? like a song neither too slow nor too fast.

E: ¡Si! se puede bailar, se sabrosea, pero también cantarla.

E: Yes! you can dance, sabor it, but you can also sing it.

G: Y por mucho que los registros sean de alguna manera similares es como una canción doble, parte dos veces, tiene el mismo coro, pero tiene dos estrofas que están absolutamente personalizadas, la primera yo y luego el Esteban que canta en la segunda partecita, que es para mi por lo menos como si la canción partiera de nuevo, dos capítulos del mismo libro.

G: And no matter how much the registers are somehow similar, is like a double song, it starts twice, it has the same chorus, but it has two verses that are absolutely personalized, the first me and then Esteban who sings in the second little part, which is for me at least as if the song started again. Two chapters of the same book. 

G: Yo creo que tiene muchas cosas buenas, de hecho es algo que genera más noticia, más novedad, por ejemplo el estar los dos acá hablando contigo tienen que ver con eso y es bacán creo yo, porque enriquece el contexto de las canciones, eso de primera.

G: I think it has many good things, in fact it’s something that generates more news, more newness, in fact the two of us here talking to you have to do with that and that’s cool I think, it enriches the context of the songs, that’s the main thing.

E: En mi caso, me encanta colaborar porque siento que eso le saca a uno lados que uno no conoce, cuando uno colabora con alguien empieza a darse cuenta de muchas cosas que uno puede hacer y luego creo que a uno eso en su proceso creativo personal lo lleva a hacer cosas nuevas ¿no? pero sí, es como una oportunidad como dice Gepe de unir fuerzas, que creo que eso se da mucho y pues no siempre es común, pero también colaborar no es solamente una cosa que se da y punto, sino que no siempre puede ser y es bonito cuando funciona, cuando realmente las cosas cuajan.

E: In my case, I love collaborating because I feel that it brings out sides that one doesn’t  know, when one collaborates with someone else, you begin to realize many things that you can do and then I think that in your personal creative process that leads you to do new things, right? But yeah, it’s like an opportunity, as Gepe says, to join forces, which I think happens a lot, but collaborating is not something that simply happens, period, because it can’t always be and it’s nice when it works, when things really come together.

G: Hay una cosa que a mi me encanta de las colaboraciones, y es que el grabar algo, un video, o componer o grabar una voz, implica igual una apertura de lo íntimo, uno conoce a la otra persona como “ay mira, a Esteban le gusta esto y no le gusta esto otro” o mira “se siente cómodo así o asá” y eso me encanta, me da mucha curiosidad, de las primeras colaboraciones que he hecho como “Oh él Pedro se pone nervioso con esto” “Ah mira la Wendy Sulca como que se relaja con esta otra cosa” ese tipo de cosas me fascina y uno va adquiriendo conocimientos también, me acuerdo que la Wendy Sulca hablaba, hablaba y hablaba y cuando había que grabar se concentraba así como que cambiaba de personaje, cambiaba el switch, eso me pareció genial y de ahí he tratado como de hacerlo, okey uno puede estar disperso y lo que quiera, pero cuando va a grabar ¡pa! concentrado.

G: There is one thing that I love about collaborations, and is that recording something, a video, or composing or recording a voice, also implies an opening of the intimate, one knows the other person like+ «oh look, Esteban likes this and he doesn’t like this other» or “look, he feels comfortable this way or that» and I love that, it makes me very curious, from the first collaborations I’ve done like «Oh, Pedro is nervous about this”, «Ah look, Wendy Sulca relaxes with this other thing» that kind of thing fascinates me and one also acquires knowledge, I remember that Wendy Sulca talked, talked and talked and when it was time to record, she concentrated as like a change of character, changed the switch, that seemed great to me and from there I have tried to do it, okay one can be messing around and whatever you want, but when you go to record Bam! concentrated.

E: Si, es una oportunidad para conocer más a otros artistas también y como que en Colombia decimos “muy buen parche” como cuando  te pasas un buen momento también o no, te enfrentas a cosas y te das cuenta que son humanos y de ahí pueden salir muchas cosas asi como no, pero es genial.

E: Yes, it’s an opportunity to learn more about other artists as well, and as we say in Colombia «very good patch» like when you have a good time or not, you face things and you realize that they are human and from there it can come out many things, as well as no, but it’s great.

G: Hay colaboraciones que no resultan y eso igual es constructivo al final como experiencia.

G: There are collaborations that don’t work out and that’s still constructive in the end, as an experience.

G: Mucha, a mi me gusta mucho que el aporte de Los Tres haya sido tanto con canciones, discos y como también el haber sumado un contexto de folklore dentro de sus aportes. Ellos más allá de adueñarse o sentir como que estaban descubriendo algo, al contrario le dieron luz a algo, a un ambiente musical en particular que es el folklore urbano de la ciudad de Santiago o de Concepción y dejaron que esas personas fueran los protagonistas y eso me encanta. Además se nota que Alvaro y Titae son fan de cosas y me encanta cuando los músicos se revelan como fan de algo y pueden un poco rendirse a los pies de eso y eso me encanta de ellos, entonces siento que el aporte va tanto en términos de canciones propiamente tales, de la musicalidad de esas canciones, como de lo rico que es ser fan de algo ¿cachai? Me encanta cuando las bandas, o los proyectos o los solistas muestran hilacha en ese sentido y digan “esto me gusta”, eso me encanta.

G: A lot, I really like that the contribution of Los Tres has been so much, with songs, albums and also having added a context of folklore within their contributions. They beyond taking ownership or feeling like they were discovering something, on the contrary, they shown light to something, to a particular musical environment, which is the urban folklore of the city of Santiago or Concepción, and they let those people be the protagonists, and I love that. You can see that Alvaro and Titae are also fans of things and I love it when musicians reveal themselves as fans of something and they can give in a little at their feet, and I love that about them, so I feel that the contribution goes so much in terms of songs, of the musicality of said songs, like how rich it’s to be a fan of something, you know? I love when bands, projects or soloists show that (being a fan of something) in that sense and say «I like this”, I love that.

E: Voy a dar un concierto en el Teatro Nescafé el 28 de septiembre en Santiago y va a ser parte de esta gira que estoy empezando, que empecé hace unos días atrás acá en Medellín, luego en Bogotá, luego voy a Lima, ahí se suma Santiago, luego Buenos Aires, y esperemos que allí esté Gepe para que podamos cantar esta canción.

E: I’m going to give a concert at the Nescafé Theater on September 28 in Santiago and it’s going to be part of this tour that I’m starting, which I started a few days ago here in Medellin, then in Bogotá, then I’m going to Lima, Santiago it’s there , then Buenos Aires, then nothing, let’s hope Gepe is there so we can sing this song and that’s it from me, more dates are coming soon.

G: Yo tengo un concierto en Ciudad de México el 15 de octubre en el Auditorio Blackberry, hay otra el 7 de octubre en el Tecate de Guadalajara y en Chile vienen otras cositas también, vamos a estar por Chiloé, por el norte también, pero todavía son fechas que se están trabajando y no están aún confirmadas, pero se vienen cosas muy buenas y tocando en vivo que es una de las cosas más entretenidas que hay e intensas también.

G: I have a concert in Mexico City on October 15 at the Blackberry Auditorium, there is another one on October 7 at the Tecate in Guadalajara and in Chile there are other little things coming too, we will be in Chiloé, in the north too, but they are still dates that are being worked on and are not yet confirmed, but there are very good things coming and playing live which is one of the most entertaining and intense things there is and intense too.