[Transcript edited for clarity]

Absent Sounds: We always love starting off by introducing people to the core of the band and how it got started. So take us back to when you first decided to come up with. The current iteration

Las Nubes : I started writing a lot of these songs way before seven years ago. I just never thought to play them publicly with a band. One day, a friend of ours a promoter in Miami was, booking a show for Shonen Knife. Emile and I were working at a record store. My friend asked me if I would want to open the show with the songs I'd been writing. I was like, I'm not going to play alone. That's like insane. Emily was there and she was like, I play drums. I call drums. I'm playing with you. And I was like, cool. So we just need a bassist now. And then we had a friend who played bass that came to the rescue. We had another person come in to do second guitar as well. And yeah, we started as a four piece, but continued as a three piece for many years. It wasn't until writing this album that we're about to put out now, where we were like, we kind of need to be a four piece again. So Here we are.

Absent Sounds: Yeah! Here you are today! I'm super excited, even going through the tracklist of the album that you guys have coming out, there's a lot of songs that I haven't gotten to listen to the entire thing yet, but just knowing that, how, like, how loud and how powerful you are on stage, do you feel you embody that outside of music as well? Is the loudness or aggressive nature of music for you guys like a performance?

Las Nubes : I don't know if I'd consider myself aggressive, maybe aggressive is the wrong word. I’m not aggressive with a negative connotation I can be very animated and intense. When i'm passionate about something I have a lot of opinions and I will share my opinions. Sometimes very loudly and emphatically. So yeah, I feel like I'm definitely a little more reserved on a day to day basis. I'm a little quieter when I'm on stage, I have an alter ego. A completely different person I guess I'm kind of loud and intense in different ways. Artistically, I express myself more like that than I do day to day.

Absent Sounds: That makes sense. I feel like most people need some sort of outlet to get it out, even if it's not with music. To me, it seems like a vulnerable part of yourself being on stage and having to share not only lyrics, but your voice or your instruments. I know you guys have been doing this for seven years, but it was never a part where you felt really uncomfortable with being on stage.

Las Nubes : Yeah, there are moments I feel nervous just before going on. As soon as we start playing it. goes out the window. I was talking to my therapist about this sometimes I feel my mind goes somewhere else. And, I don't even realize I'm playing guitar anymore. She's like, Oh yeah, you're just disassociating. Oh my God. Cool. Disassociating on stage. I don't get nervous anymore, when I was not used to playing a lot. The only, not so much nervousness, but if we didn't get a proper sound check and I don't know if I'm gonna hear anything the right way. I play on a lot of backline kits sometimes it's like, these are drums I've never played on before. I'm having to figure out the drum math, as I call it, like as I'm playing. So sometimes that makes me a little anxious, because there's more opportunity to make a mistake

Absent Sounds: Yeah. I find that interesting. The bilingual part of speaking one language on stage, but having to do that in another language or I don’t know. It feels like it's one thing to feel anxiety in one language then also writing songs not knowing how the Hispanic culture around you will accept it, does that ever become, a thing for you guys ?

Las Nubes : I feel uncomfortable when I have to talk on stage. I hate to talk, whether it's in English Spanish Portuguese, whatever language it is. I just don't like talking between songs. I'm not one of those charismatic front people yelling from the back. I'm not one of those people that's like, “Hey, how's everybody doing today?” I'm very awkward in any language. Spanish was my first language. Singing in Spanish feels natural to me, in the times we've toured in Mexico, everyone loves that there's a band from the U. S. singing in their language. They can sing along and talk to us afterwards. I think that's awesome.

Absent Sounds: Yeah. I love that. Even speaking of tour, you guys are going to be touring soon. Do you have any memorable moments that you think encapsulate the energy of your band

Las Nubes : On stage?

Absent Sounds: On tour.

Las Nubes : There's a lot of moments that, in the moment, you're like, this sucks. But then you look back on it later and you're like, that was kind of funny. We played in the winter in Kalamazoo once in a basement. there was black ice. The van was sliding and we didn't know what black ice was at all. Never heard of it I had never experienced it so I didn't know now I'm sliding everywhere. It was funny trying to load with the van sliding around then load in down stairs and the stairs were also iced over- like the outside stairs and basement. It was super cold outside but not in the basement, I had to take off most of my clothes because I was sweaty, but then afterwards I was like, crap, now I have to put the clothes on, but now we're back down here. It was really fun. And someone stole merch. it was like a punk house and someone stole merch.

Absent Sounds: What the heck?.

Las Nubes : Yeah someone found it and paid for the stolen merch. And you're in Kalamazoo, like, that's not a real place, right? You hear that? It's like Looney Tunes, No, that's a real place. Then we stayed in a weird Airbnb the bottom of a house, open. We could hear the people. They had a portrait of Jesus, and the toilet was up on a pedestal.

Absent Sounds: With the latest single you put out, Would Be it seems there's this palpable sense of longing or, reclaiming lost time or past memories, especially knowing your dad, turned pro and then lost the opportunity. Is there any specific memory you still hold dear that was taken away from you because of external moments or external things that were preventing you from experiencing the full thing at the time?

Las Nubes : When COVID happened, our band was doing this. All the momentum, all the work we put in, disappeared from one day to the next, despite our efforts of live streams, giveaways, outdoor shows. We did a lot to keep it going, but it wasn't the same. I wrote that song during that time because I was turning 30. So for me, that was like, Oh my God, I'm turning 30. What have I done in my life? Now we're all locked in, I have nothing to show for it. There go my twenties, it was so dramatic, but it fueled the lyrics and that feeling of longing, to come through in that song, I think. Me and Emily always talk about it. And Nina, who used to play in the band she's Brazilian. We would always talk about how there's this word in Portuguese that doesn't translate exactly.

Absent Sounds: I love words that don't translate.

Las Nubes : The word is saudade and it's that feeling of longing. It's yummy, but bittersweet at the same time. I feel like saudade is the overall theme for most of the songs on this record,

Absent Sounds: Yeah.

Las Nubes : Like a fond lamenting of things you know?

Absent Sounds: Yeah. It’s worth saying that, even for myself I'm still in my 20s, I’m back living back at home and I feel like I haven't done anything. I'm in the same spot I was in high school. Where does all the time go?

Las Nubes : Yeah. It just flies by sometimes, you know?

Absent Sounds: We have track number two, Posada. It has a title in Spanish, but the lyrics are in English.

Las Nubes : Yeah, the lyrics are in English. That song, that one's coming out next Friday, right? The single comes on May 17th. That song ignited after, George Floyd's murder. And the overwhelming response there was in social media. I noticed a lot of people demonizing others for not sharing enough, infographs on Instagram. I would go to protests expecting to see these people making others feel bad or calling out other people for not sharing and they were nowhere to be found. So basically the song is calling out performative activism and people who just, post something to be like, Hey, look, I did it. I did my due diligence, but they're actually not doing anything,

Absent Sounds: I think about that a lot, especially now the Palestinian war has been going on, the current stage that we're at right now. It's always kind of been a thing as well where, I'll see a lot of times online people say, oh, well, this celebrity hasn't said anything. Recently they were saying, “Zendaya didn't say anything about Palestine, but she's at the Met Gala- do you still stan her?” I think it's hard because, you don't want to look to these people for guidance within movements. But I like the context of what you guys are talking about

Las Nubes : Yeah. it's a double-edged sword because at the same time, you look at people that have this power you think, you're on this pedestal, you should use it for good, you know? But why do people feel the need to like, look to, you know, or like look up at these, these like celebrities look to them for guidance or I don't know, it just Hollywood and the big industry in general of music just seems so vapid and shallow. Why don't you just share all the money you have instead? This is all in the context of Capitalism, right? These social media platforms, who's running them, these big corporations and where are they getting money from advertisers to buy stuff to give your money to work more, to give your money and perpetuate that cycle. So it's funny for anyone to hold someone in contempt for not posting on social media, which, is inherently evil right? Maybe I don't want to use it at all.

Absent Sounds: Exactly. I'm not posting because I don't want to post at all. I've always gone back and forth I don't even use my personal account. What keeps you guys going? I know I start to feel pessimistic so how do you not feel defeated?

Las Nubes : I think being able to write about it helps being able to get it out in any way helps out a lot. Showing up to protests, donating money gathering the community to do something together gives me hope, it makes me feel like its something. Even just being able to gather with your friends and try to make a difference feels good, it makes you feel more powerful in a way. Community is important, conversations are important, education is important, all of these things. So, yeah, being in a place where we can do that, we can still do that, you know, that's really important. So it's a thing that we shouldn't take lightly. It's important to take advantage of the freedoms to gather and share ideas,

Absent Sounds: That's huge. Definitely being able to do that is a privilege I don't want to take for granted and, I hope other people listen to this do as well. and going into track number three- Silhouetted Man. Where does that one tie into this narrative or the story of the album?

Las Nubes : That song I wrote about my cousin who died of a drug overdose. He showed me amazing bands like Broken Social Scene and Tokyo Police Club, he was also a musician since we were kids he always kind of had issues and the song talks about how, you want to help this person, but it's hard when they don't want to help themselves and you can't help them feel anger towards them in a way, despite it not really being in their control, because at the end of the day, drug addiction is a mental illness. It's not something people can just choose to stop; you need treatment for that. He tried going a few times, but it didn't work out. The song's about him, dedicated to him and, about that. He’s there on the cover

Absent Sounds: Oh, he is?

Las Nubes : Yeah. it's a photo of him and his twin brother.

Absent Sounds: He's a twin. How is this twin coping I've always wondered about that. Whats his brother, like?

Las Nubes : His brother is like a normal person, you know, married, has two kids. They were both completely different people. my cousin Louie was a musician and Benny was a jock. they went on separate paths in life.

Absent Sounds: I find that interesting. I always think when my sister dies, that would be the end of me. The downfall of having a twin is that I think our souls are connected

Las Nubes : Yeah, that's crazy. I've always, been curious. I guess you were born with a twin sibling, so you don't know what life is like without one. But I always wondered what it must feel like to have a twin.

Absent Sounds: It might have been a better experience. I have a twin for a reason because I don't know if I would have made it this long without somebody that close to me.

Las Nubes : That's awesome.

Absent Sounds: Oh, have you heard the song, Timothy's Ghost by As Cities Burns? It's about somebody that died and the feeling of their ghost taking their place. When you're on the stage and talking about stuff that's so vulnerable, do you feel like it's going to be easier or harder to sing this song

Las Nubes : We've played it a couple times live already. It's definitely a song that it's very heavy.I do find it kind of hard to get through sometimes, but, when I play it, I think about him and his spirit is with me. I think that's cool because I'm doing something he would have been stoked to see. It's kind of cool to immortalize someone in song too. I love doing that.

Absent Sounds: I'm going to get through one more question. The next song- tell me about that.

Las Nubes : It's a finger to everyone. thinks we can't a song longer than two minutes. Yeah. That song is the longest we've ever written. It's like 10 minutes.

Absent Sounds: Yes. I think every band needs to have at least one 10 minute song.

Las Nubes : I was very much inspired by Godspeed You Black Emperor. I was inspired by this band from Mexico called El Chirota because they have a song called Carreta Furacao that has that crescendo. I was inspired by Juana Molina too during lockdown, we'd write riffs send them to Emily and go back and forth. we didn't finish writing it until we started recording it, right? Like demoing it. Well, even at the very end we're in the studio and you're like, okay, now play drums over this whole thing. And I was like - wait, I didn't sign up for that. I'm not very good at improvising. You're like, just do it. And there was one take. That song kept evolving the lyrics are kind of nonsense. At the end, I wrote a poem, basically about my divorce. Oh, and we use samples from Hurricane Irma. They’re actually recordings we took, not, random off the internet. My brother sings on that song. Because the other person who was supposed to sing did not show up at the studio and my brother happened to be in town. So I picked him up and made him sing on the song.

Absent Sounds: There's a lot in the song. layers and layers of a story. I love it.

Las Nubes : there's a lot.

Absent Sounds: When you were talking about being immortalized in a song, the opposite of that is kind of like, when you have to let go of somebody. This is the thing that I always wonder about musicians, how you can navigate the letting go process without having them as a topic in your songs Do you feel like that's a thing with you?

Las Nubes : The poem I wrote at the end was stream of consciousness, I used references, from watching, a Spanish newscast, like a weather report, and was narrating a timeline of what was happening to me that summer. It felt cathartic, I don't think about it anymore. Or so I thought. Fast forward two years and I got divorced.

Absent Sounds: Reminds me of another artist I love who, started writing music around the same time she was going through a divorce. it's not stream of consciousness, but it's very angry. A lot of the music is angry. Do you feel anger? What are the emotions that are present?

Las Nubes : I was mourning a loss, while experiencing a new relationship. Comparing it to a hurricane made the most sense. If you read the poem, it's narrating this feeling of being lifted swept in a hurricane blowing the roof off. And then you rebuild.

Absent Sounds: And then you rebuild.