Bifannah interview
Bifannah is the result of a 21st century merging of the rhythms of moody ’60s garage with the Tropicalistas’ psychedelia.
The band was formed by Guille V. Zapata, Antía Figueiras, Antón Martínez and Pablo Valladares in autumn of 2015 and is currently based between London and Madrid.
“A blend of psychedelia, latin sounds and tropicália influences”
How would you describe your sound?
We like to define it as ‘lambada, sun and salty’ — a blend of psychedelia, latin sounds and tropicália influences. Sounds from the past through a contemporary lens.
Would you like to talk a bit about your background?
We’ve known each other for a long time. We are all from the same city, so we’ve spent countless nights talking about music or just hanging out. Some of us also had other projects together back in the day, which kind of drove us into this. Our previous bands were very different: from the West-Coast sound, to a more noisy and shoegaze atmospheres. We wanted something different, to explore new sounds, and that’s how Bifannah started.
Are any of you involved in any other bands or do you have any active side-projects going on at this point?
Antía released a single this Christmas with Oeste, a side project with Luis Basilio. Guille also writes songs under the name Avispa, currently on hold, and just recorded a song with Mundo Prestigio, a fellow band from Vigo.
When did you decide that you wanted to start writing and performing your own music? What brought that about for you?
It came naturally. Antía has studied music since she was a kid, and the rest of us got involved in bands early on too. Since we were teenagers, we have made our music and performed. We’ve got better with time, of course, but we’ve always had that aim to wrote and play our songs. I would say the writing came before actually. It was never a consequence of playing an instrument, but the cause to get one.
What does the name “Bifannah” refer to in the context of the band name?
It really has no meaning, it’s just a funny story. Bifana is a traditional and very tasty Portuguese sandwich. Nothing fancy, you can find it anywhere in Portugal. Guille lived in Porto for a few years, and in one of our visits, we had a bifana after a very long night out. It’s usually a great snack when you head home, but it didn’t go as planned. The day after we were all sick and feeling quite ill. We had had an amazing night though, so we kept it as a good memory. When we were thinking about names for the band, we remembered the story and thought if would be fun to use it. We just changed the spelling.
How do you usually approach music making?
Our process is a bit special, as we don’t live in the same city — Anton lives in London, the others in Madrid. We usually start with a basic idea just made of guitar and some vocals, and build up from there; we add the bass and keys, shift things around, and that’s when we start finding what we want to do with the song. Drums and percussion come after, finalising the structure and the mood of the track. At that point, we play it all together and discuss what does and doesn’t work.
Lyrics and final arrangements come at the very last moment, while recording the demos, or sometimes even in the studio playing live. We like keeping things natural and do not overthink structures or arrangements, so we find that quite fun.
“We went 100% analog”
Can you share some further details how your latest album Danças Líquidas was recorded?
We went 100% analog, using tape and recording as much as we could live. Apart from the vocals and some arrangements, everything is part of the same take. We had our doubts, but we loved doing it that way. It made the sessions less tedious, and it definitely gave the sound that natural feel and warmth that live takes have.
We also kept the structure of the songs fairly loose, with room to change and tweak things. There were ideas that we wanted to explore, but some things happened right in the studio. Frank Maston (interview), apart from a talented musician, understood what we wanted from day one. We had a lot of fun working together.
How pleased were you with the sound of the album?
Very happy. Collaborating with Frank was great. It was our first time working with a producer, and the experience couldn’t be better. Also thank Javier Ortiz and Marcos Bandera, who were in charge of the recording and made us feel very comfortable. And Jasper Geluk, who did the mastering. Both the studio and the team were fantastic.
How would you compare it to Maresia?
Danças Líquidas works better as a whole. Maresia was a collection of songs, different from each other but with some shared elements: the Farfisa sound, the likes of psychedelic sounds… Danças feels more crafted and thoughtful. From the first to the last song, it’s more solid, both from a writing and production point of view.
What are some bands/musicians that have a big influence on you?
We could go on and on about music! Every band or musician we like are an influence in a way, and although we have a lot of bands in common, each of us listen to different music too. From Latin to Brazilian, the most obvious influences, to Turkish, afrobeat, soul or even electronic music. We love pushing ourselves to discover new stuff every day. In fact, the band has been great to keep doing that. When we made the decision of singing in Portuguese, we started paying more attention to the Tropicália sounds, and from there to Angola and the rest of Africa. It’s been a great excuse to get out of our comfort zone and broaden our taste.
Do you often play live?
It really depends, but usually a couple of weekends a month. We’re doing venues now, presenting the album, and from April we will start with festivals.
What are some future plans?
We don’t have any plans other than presenting the new songs, tour as much as we can, and maybe travel abroad again. We’ve been to the States and Mexico recently, and we loved the experience. People seemed to enjoy our music, and we felt like home. We also had the opportunity to meet some amazing people and have fun with loads of artists, so we’d love to do it again.
Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?
It’s hard to choose. If we had pick some of our favourites, these could be Jorge Ben, by Jorge Ben Jor; Wanted by Mason Proffit, or Dots and Loops, by Stereolab. But we could also add Picnic, Els Michels Affair and many more!
Regarding new artists, we really enjoyed Grandeza, by Sessa. Mostly acoustic songs, but with great bossa vibes.
Thank you. Last word is yours.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to talk about our music. Lots of love from Spain!
– Klemen Breznikar
Bifannah Facebook
Bifannah Instagram
Bifannah Bandcamp
The John Colby Sect Official Website
