"An outift to reckon with" - DIY
"A gorgeous piece of psych pop" - Clash
"Their big sound suggests mad geniuses at work" - London on the Inside
"Fusing Gailic and Balearic folk styles with indie-pop and psychedelia" (7.5/10)- The Line of Best Fit
"Equal parts continentally passionate and warmly playful" - The Skinny
With their debut EP out in December via City Slang, Cristobal and the Sea are excited to reveal the new video for standout track ‘Disquiet’. The band will also be playing an EP launch show at The Waiting Room in London tonight.
London-based artist Elliott Arndt directed the 'Disquiet' video and went on to say "this video drew its inspiration from the author of The Book Of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa. Whilst researching his masterpiece, I discovered a few anecdotes about him...
One that particularly marked me was how, through the love of astrology, he came to befriend Aleister Crowley, the notorious British figure. Together, they decided to fake Crowley’s death by leaving a suicide note atop the “Boca Do Inferno” near Lisbon (lit. “Hell’s Mouth”, a tall seaside cliff), and Pessoa told the local papers that he’d seen Crowley’s ghost floating about town. I decided to use this anecdote as a starting point, and add my own twist to it, wherein Crowley actually dies and re-incarnates as a little princess, leaving Pessoa heartbroken and alone."
Cristobal and the Sea are a proper European union of a band, if ever there was one. The quartet hail from four corners of our diverse continent. They are: Alejandro Romero from Spain (bass/vox), João Seixas from Portugal (guitar/vox), Leïla Séguin from Corsica/France (flute/vox) and Josh Oldershaw from old Blighty (drums).
Within this distinct mix of sounds, there are notes of their southern Mediterranean culture and an unintentionally Brazilian bossa nova feel in João’s guitar style, all underpinned by a beat-generation vibe that seeps into all their songs. This has all been perfectly captured on this debut by NYC producer Rusty Santos (Animal Collective, Ariel Pink, DJ Rashad, Grizzly Bear).
From The Beach Boys’ vocal harmonies to Fleetwood Mac, Gilberto Gil to Gainsbourg and a whole host of modern artists, Cristobal and the Sea have taken their varied inspirations and diverse cultural backgrounds & melded them into their own distinct sound, creating rich, warm & disorientating songs that swirl with psychedelia, but never forget the importance of melody.
Fresh out of the studio with producer, Rusty Santos this July, their debut EP ‘Peach Bells’ is available on a one-sided vinyl 12“ via City Slang. Recorded over the course of a week in London’s Strongroom Studios, most of the instrumentation was captured in just one or two live takes to preserve the spontaneity & unaffected air that makes their music so rousing & individual.
Young, enormously gifted, beautifully boho, very charismatic and incredibly laid back, Cristobal And The Sea are devouring life as only the young and carefree know how. Time to listen up!
See Cristobal And The Sea live:
14th Jan - Eurosonic Noorderslag 2015, Groningen, Netherland
SOCIAL MEDIA
‘Peach Bells’ EP on soundcloud
‘My Love (Ay Ay Ay)' video
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