“This album is very different from what we have done so far,” says Itzal Uranga. “So far we were doing post-rock, but now we’re not comfortable with that style.” The song closest to this style has been known as Postrock, a proof of it.

The quartet formed by Jagoba Salvador (bass), Jon Iñaki Benito (drums), Gartxot Unsain and Itzal Uranga (guitars and voices) was going to record the album three years ago, but due to health problems they had to suspend it, almost the same day they were going to enter the study. Since then the songs have had a "spectacular development", according to the members of the group. Although the early riffs have remained, Unsain believes they have become other songs. “We used to make songs that followed the beautiful things of Madeleine. And we liked that, but we needed something else.”

The songs, therefore, have been considered “as a whole”; and “for the first time”, have been thinking about the structure. You've heard the songs you like, you've identified structures, developments, ups and downs, and you've tried to adapt them to Madeleine's songs. They have confirmed that they are “more poperous structures”, but here whoever wants to find pop pieces will have to look for it well: they are still a rock group, post or not.

They have also tried to simplify groove and the challenge has been to define the battery and bass lines more. But everybody wants to make it clear that that doesn't mean that songs are easier or that they've asked for less work. “Sometimes it’s easier to make more pieces than to make a good song with little,” says Unsain, while the rest says yes.

In addition to thinking about the structures, they've said that they've been developing the way they create in a group. “Sometimes it’s very hard to compose as a group, and often it happens that you bring an idea to the local and it becomes something else because of the influence of your peers. The sum of four parts of 25% does not have to give 100%,” says Unsain. Without concealing the strength of that process, on this album they have tried to respect the original idea. “The one who has taken the idea has had the last word, and so we have managed to respect that spark of fire that occurs in the composition.”

One more group member in the Gaztain study

Madeleine's music is composed of friends and friends. Create, play and record with friends. That is why they have addressed Gaztañaga, whom they have known for a long time. Besides being a guitarist of the group of Zestoa grays, he has his own studio, where he acts when he is not on the stage. “We have come to seek that trust,” says Unsain. “He knows what we want and we let him intervene.” To record have used their guitars, pedals and wide: “Itzal has brought his guitar in case, but neither have I!” he laughs.

It is evident that the study has found a good way to work. Although the songs are structured, they have left them open to new ideas, and among them they are completing the arrangements. Jon Horna has also collaborated with guitars in the song Sumendi; he and Gaztañaga seem to be here. The latter has also taken the guitar from time to time to propose ideas: At the end of the Perkalenea song, for example.

Gaztañaga's pedal consists of a handful of effect pedals. The members of the group have acknowledged that they do not know what some serve, such as the drop, pedal that changes guitar tone without having to change tuning. Madeleine's music has an anbiental effect and have played with different tests. In the song, for example, they have folded a serious fuzz guitar, from the bottom, adding noise and offering the song another darkness.

Gaztañaga says that to do all the Delay and Chorus you only have the plugins of your computer, opening songs in the arcade and riffs of the guitars. It is not easy to describe sounds by words, but they are perfectly understood between various onomatopeyas – note: next time we will take the video camera to collect it as well.

Words as a means of play

In Madeleine's first album (2009) there were few songs with lyrics and although Mugarri's words (2013) won centrality, they only had a few round choruses. In His Hura, on the other hand, they have taken a special weight and have been very well cultivated.

“We have talked about everyday things in a very close way,” says Unsain, who is the principal author of the letters. In Perkalenea, for example, you have honored your floor and told us about the music group It will never dry.

A good desire, which will be dried up once and which is noted above all in Sumendi's songs, that balance between the letters and the structures. Stanzas and choruses; sticky sounds and instrumental games; and Madeleine is the balance between force and harmony.

The exception can be the Single Ez gara, which is what most reminds Madeleine of the album Mugarri, published last May with the curious video clip that can be seen below: guitar games and few letters. Postrock is the only instrumental song.

The song Hura that Gartxot Unsain knew while singing on Youtube with the autotune deserves, on the other hand, a very special space. It's a strong, sticky, round piece reminiscent of Mugarri's Berlin. The word game that gives title to the album also comes from the song: “Everything is such a superficial hope.../ Had I been born by chance or killed by luck? Will we find it before we die of thirst?”

Back on the road

Within the Kutxa Kultur program, which has turned public resources into contests, they have had a local essay in Tabakalera for a whole year and a financial aid to be able to record the album. Last year, the Kutxa Kultur Foundation participated in several concerts offered by Madeleine.

With its new songs and with the intention of “getting to know new places”, the band will resume its journey on September 28. The first quote will be in Guardetxe, on Mount Urgull of Donostia, “as a party and among friends, as we do everything”: Oki Moki, Pick a Bear and DJ Spotifai. Then on 6 October they will be in Orio, on 7 in Urretxu, on 12 in Baiona and on 20 in Urnieta.

Don't miss the opportunity. The disc is good and the direct one is better. Probably because the fire between friends they had from the beginning has not been extinguished.