EN
LUAR RELEASES NEW EP
‘ROOM 156: RIO MALIK’
26 JUN 2020
Design Cover by Alberto Hernández / Artwork by Andrea Hernández
Luar debut EP ‘ROOM 156: RIO MALIK’ is released on Slow Habits on June 26, 2020, rewarding us with five tracks of his own.
Luar is one of the most promising, distinct and versatile producers of today, standing out in the panorama of instrumental music / beats production, where he reveals part of his aesthetics and artistic sensitivity in a unique portrait of his perspective of this 'ROOM 156', EP characterized by the presence of organic elements and textures that transport the listener to imaginary spaces, having an experimental vein yet reaching a very clean and atmospheric sound.
After releasing 'Drum Machines Have No Soul' Luar decides to edit ‘ROOM 156: RIO MALIK' which presents itself back from a similar concept that this time is inspired by the previous idea of personifying each track of this project as being a fictional character, it is actually very explicit to observe how versatile and refined his art can be.
During the process of creating the EP ‘Drum Machines Have No Soul’ he was inspired by the city of Berlin and wanted to give the listener his perspective of the city, thus developing an organic sensitivity and sonority mixed with dark underground sounds. The project starts in Berlin and ends in Portugal.
The most recent EP, ‘ROOM 156: RIO MALIK’, was practically done before ‘drum machines have no soul’, since November it was ready, however it came later due to the wait for artwork. Alberto Hernández (Luar) is responsible for the Cover Design of his project in partnership with his sister who created and developed the artwork, Andrea Hernández.
It is not necessarily inspired by cities or countries, but it is inspired by different personality and personas. The idea was to assume these identities, not at a personal level, but at a musical level, as fictional characters in each project that he created in this universe of the rooms, to be inspired by a different type of genre, the first was more in the wave of chillhop, jazz rap, psychedelic and trap.
Alberto Hernández says that the pseudonym Luar emerged from the need for a creative escape without limits and borders, an exploration of different identities and musical genres.
“I started by releasing a track every week as a way to improve my workflow; initially I had no intention to release projects under the name Luar; the main idea was to have a place where I could build a portfolio and use that experience to work with other people. Over time, the initial idea changed, but the basis remained the same, I continued to explore different genres and sounds, from orchestral and cinematographic music to trap and r & b. Nothing is limited. ” - Luar.
Luar says that his music also arises from an attempt to emulate reality, to redraw the landscapes of the places where he passed, to convey the feeling of listening to the music while a bus is passing by or any other sound effects of landscaping, cinematic emulation as if listening to the audio of a movie scene, hearing sounds from the street makes it possible to mentally recreate contexts, cinematic environments of an observer, leads the listener to imagine themselves in the places.
His inspiration comes from several different places, from the music he listens to, but mainly from the environments around him, from the cities he visited, from the landscapes he saw and contemplated with his own eyes and through the lenses of other people, whether through a film, TV shows, photography, design and even video games. Everything is part of the final product, from the choice of reverb to the source used in the work, but music will always be the central point.
Luar explores the design and photography aspects of his visual aesthetics, mentions that the visual has always gone hand in hand with his music and says that visual aesthetics are as important as a kick and a snare. Before making music, he already experimented with audiovisual programs, naturally over time and with the need to create covers for his projects, the concern with presentation increased, thus generating an intensive search for the fusion between the visual and the sound, symbiosis with induced synesthesia.
Underlining his production skills, Luar has the ability to transpose his daily experiences and make listeners travel along the way in soundscapes, transporting us to a specific place through textures, where the mind and ears are transported and placed in a peaceful state and relax in the realm where it is possible to sit and absorb the vibrations brought by the artist's sound reflections, feeling unified by them.