5 Of The Best: Henry Saiz Talks Us Through His Album

Henry Saiz will soon release his debut artist album “Those Who Are Not Strong Enough to Confront Their Dreams”. Fusing a concept of inclusive fan participation with a production process purposely distanced from metropolis. With a host of interesting influences behind his latest release we got the enigmatic Spanish producer to talk us through 5 of his favorite tracks from his new LP ahead of his album launch party at London’s Village Underground on July 5th.

ALL THE EVIL OF THIS WORLD

“All the evil of this world” is the first single from the album. From the beginning I wanted to make clear to the listeners that this album was supposed to broaden the scope of my style. “All the Evil of this world” is a pop song with a chorus-based structure, but also includes some acid lines and melodic elements that place it in a genre difficult to define. Releasing  this track as the first single its like saying that the album is a musical work composed without prejudice, where every tool I had  worked if it could express what I wanted. This is a very special track for me, especially since it led to the shooting of my first videoclip, so the experiences and emotions I experienced during the making of the video have been completely associated with the song.

The title is quite descriptive about the content of the lyrics. “All the evil of this world” reflects my fascination and revulsion against the evil side of the human being. The singer on this song is Hanin Zueiter, who also put her voice in “The Light“. I hope you enjoy it.

SPIRICOM (See you soon)

To compose “Spiricom” I used one of the samples that fans sent to the wearehenrysaiz.com website. As many know, I made a campaign in the first phase of the composition of the album, asking the fans to contribute with their recordings to the album. After post-production processes, these samples are virtually unrecognizable. In the case of “Spiricom” I received a voice message from a girl from Belgium, with no melody, just some friendly words of support. Then I considered the challenge of turning the spoken word into a melodic line. The result is quite strange because it results in a kind of ghost singer, a performance that never took place. The title “Spiricom” refers to this process. The Spiricom was a device created by a researcher in the early eighties that supposedly allowed communication with the dead. I liked the analogy with the process I followed to create the voice of the track, plus I’ve always been attracted to the world of EVP and dirty analog recordings. It’s something that I think has been reflected not only on this track, but on the whole album.

FILL ME UP

This song is called “Fill me up” and it’s a very pop track, especially because it has a fairly classic structure and a well defined chorus. Musically, I see some influence of R’N B and 90’s trance music, especially in the chord progression. I think one of the strengths of the track is its atmosphere, as it is very dreamy and sensual. Personally, it suggests to me of how I would imagine the atmosphere of an opium den in the nineteenth century; a very dreamy texture. I had in mind the singer Cornelia, whom I knew because of her collaborations with Portico Quartet and other bands in the British electronic scene. It was a pleasure to count on her because it is hard to find singers with such a unique texture to their voice. The song is about a relationship of dependency, which can be interpreted in many ways (love, drugs, etc). It speaks of how difficult it’s to be satisfied when you don’t even know the priorities and needs we have in our lives.

THE LIGHT

This song is called “The Light” and the idea behind it was to recover an element of one of my old tracks, in the case of “They came from the light“. Instead of making a new version or remix I  imagined how it would sound if it were the previous version of that song; as if “They came from the light” was a remix and I had to create the original track which was never done. It’s a little confusing, so I hope I explained it correctly. The structure of this track is totally pop, very 80 `s, with a chorus and some arrangements that remind me of the Spanish band Mecano. I’ve been always fascinated by Mecano melodies and since my childhood they have been a huge influence on me in many ways. I wanted to use that kind of approach but with a more contemporary sound. The vocals are from Hanin Zueiter, a swedish singer. I love her voice and how she has interpreted the lyrics.

LOVE MYTHOLOGY

This track is called “Love Mythology“. Basically, I wanted on the album a track that could talk about love from a very analytical and descriptive point of view. The lyrics talk about how this concept (which is so human, evolutive and primordial) has led us to create a mythology, an idealization of human relationships. The lyric has some dark elements because it defines the feeling as something inevitable that dominates you. The music brings a melancholic and precious counterpoint, with melodies that refer to Italo-disco, which is a style that has influenced me greatly. In my opinion, the song speaks of entering that maze so dark and complex but so beautiful, the maze of human relationships at that level.

If your fortunate enough to be in London on Friday The 5th Of July then you can catch Henry in the flesh at Village Underground for his album launch party. The event features the first time Henry has performed with a full live band and support from Marcus Marr and Edu Imbernon. More details and tickets can be obtained by clicking here

Henry Saiz’s new album ‘Those Who Are Not Strong Enough to Confront Their Dreams’ is out now and available to buy here