Last year saw Gaspar Narby broadening his off-kilter electronica into a broader artistic style as an introspective singer-songwriter. The first two products of that evolution – ‘Death & Other Things’ and ‘So Bored’ – resulted in fresh critical acclaim as he was praised by The Line of Best Fit (On The Rise) and Wonderland (New Noise).
Now Gaspar shares his brand new EP ‘Magnet Letters’. The five-track set is released along with a video for its title track and new single.
The song ‘Magnet Letters’ provides an enticing calling card for what to expect from the EP as a whole. While the songwriting is informed by classic traditions, Gaspar’s production is full of experimental touches. From the opening looped vocal sample to the sparsely deployed reverberating beats and an unexpected squawking synth sound, Gaspar contrasts flavours a conventionally structured song with a wealth of atypical sonic touches.
Gaspar says, “This was inspired by how little I instinctively want to speak about my feelings, which leads to bottling things up and just doesn’t help at all. A lot of my male friends have this problem, I think. This led me to stay in overtly toxic friendships and sometimes created unbalanced relationships. The song is a reminder to myself to leave when a situation is bad for me, but also to speak more, so that the situation doesn’t become toxic in the first place. I had a lot of fun with the production on this. Using bizarre synths and samplers to distort vocals seems fitting for a song about miscommunication.”
The ‘Magnet Letters’ video puts a surreal slant on the song’s meaning. It depicts a morose-looking man who is in the middle of a late night drive. Subsequently edited in reverse, what was initially the tale of an ordinary break-up turns into a very different story, which Gaspar describes as showing “a clown stuck in a never-ending problem of his own making.”
The video is Gaspar’s latest creative partnership with artistic director Lena Vallat and director/editor Theo Le Sourd. It was filmed in Gaspar’s childhood home of Jura, Switzerland. Always eager to make the most of his modest resources, Gasparborrowed the 1979 Opel Kadett that features in the video from his old skateboarding friend Jonas.
Gaspar took a fresh approach when working on the ‘Magnet Letters’ EP. For the first time, he wrote most of the material on guitar before then applying his production ideas to the songs. It was a method that made him feel as if he was a producer working on songs by another artist. Just as importantly, he decided to push himself out of his comfort zone by singing everything on the EP rather than collaborating with other artists.
The entire project was written, recorded, produced and mixed by Gaspar in his home studio in south London. It was then mastered by Jeremy Cooper at Soundtrap. In addition to the three singles, the EP is completed by the growing majesty of ‘You & I’ and the richly textured closing track ‘Attention’.
Gaspar adds, “I think the process was about making myself uncomfortable: the lyrics are about the parts of myself that I’m scared of, from my need to feel seen (Attention), and my fear of growing old and dying (‘Death & Other Things’), to the occasional absurdity of existence (‘So Bored’) and how bad I can be at communicating my feelings (‘Magnet Letters’).” Singing in itself took me out of my comfort zone. A few years ago, I had a bad experience with a singing teacher who said that my voice wasn’t good enough. With this EP, I guess I’m hoping to prove them wrong.”
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