In the meantime, Xabier Bastida is an amateur from Azkoitia to Zarautz, and we have taken advantage of one of those days to chat on one of his terraces when he had not yet given the order to close bars in the CAV. Summer is the end, the sun hits hard and in the middle of the interview proposes to move to another table around: preferably in the shade. Anonymity doesn't have big laps either. It's just more comfortable. He started making songs at home, and slowly he went up to Soundcloud, and by the time he realized it, he's already made a record. However, the word “musician” is too pompous, I prefer “producer”. Abaunz is the fourth last name, the first of his loves and, although he likes the sound of the word, he has taken advantage of his artistic name to make a small gesture.

You started making songs around 2010. How do you remember that time?

At the time, I listened to a lot of electronics, and I realized that almost all of those musicians were making computer songs. Knowing that a Cubase course was organized in the music school, we picked up one of the crew and I. But it wasn't what I was looking for: the program worked by looking at the instruments, playing with the guitar and recording. I wanted to produce directly from the computer, using accessories, tongue keyboard, etc. Soon after I learned that Amsia, a DJ from Azkoitia and a music producer, taught another course on Ableton. “This is mine,” I thought, and so it was. Then I went on studying on my own, through YouTube tutorials. Technically, I'm not very demanding, but I fix them.

Echoes of all kinds can be found on the disk. It already has traces of Black Metal, but there's also a dark electronics. It creates heavy atmospheres from different sources. How did you get to that sound?

I try to be faithful to my intuitions because if you try to mimic someone else's language, it will always follow you. He will do better. I try to find new sounds. If I get it, it's something else. What is my “favorable factor”? I've heard music of all kinds. It's true, there's the metal echoes, when I was a little kid, I heard nothing but: Burial, Biohazard, Slayer, Pantera, Metallica, Witchcraft... So I gave a little bit of hip-hop and everything. Def Jux, Griffi, Madlib, J Dilla... There will also be people who are more skilled in electronics than I am. I, on the contrary, am a mixture of all those styles mentioned, and in that language I try to be real.

I've read you that you want to escape the artificial sound. What do you mean by that?

I don't mean sound itself, because I really like "machine" sound. I mix different sounds, and in those cases, there's a risk that that mix isn't credible. I would like to avoid this: to confuse things by pure confusion, in search of a certain “rarity”. I'm not interested in a free mix without aesthetic consistency that leads to an inevitably forced result. I want to flee from it, whatever it costs.

Have you found yourself in that trance many times?

Don't believe it. It is true that I find it difficult to complete the songs. Many times, if I'm chained to something, I can be working, and my head starts off. “In that song I have to do this.” But then you start to materialize that idea and it doesn't work. Other times I come to create some fragments by chance. After I finished something, I also turn my head around, “if I molded this or the other,” but I usually feel comfortable. The criterion of time is often the strongest: finishing something too fast can be dangerous, while if you survive two months later, it is a good sign.

You've published it with the Jollies discography in Brooklyn (USA). How did this opportunity come about?

It all happened in Soundcloud. The truth is, there's a world there. Last decade was particularly powerful at Soundcloud, where many of the most well-known musicians today, such as Post Malone or Lil Uzi Vert, have started. The most innovative bets in electronics were also created. I was still there, I was going up my songs… and all of a sudden, the Jollies wrote me a message, which they liked my material and to see if I could send something. I leaned on her channel and found no more than a cassette, a collection that coincided quite with what I did. They seemed to me to be trustworthy and I kept on walking. If anyone else had proposed it to me, if I felt I was trustworthy, I would have said yes. I'm glad somebody likes what I do, but I'm not dedicated to sending the papers to the record companies. From time to time I've gotten some CD-R for friends, but no pretensions.

You've called the disc to listen to the sound of breathing in the dark. A title that gathers well the spirit of the work.

I finished the album in November last year. I had to send it to Jollies, but I had no title. So one winter night, when I came back from the cafe with my hood sitting on the road, I realized that I heard more clearly than ever the rumor of my breath. "This is it! ", it occurred to me. But until then, I had no title. The same thing happens with the songs: I call them “the first,” “the second,” “the third,” until the end.

You're more comfortable in the sound code than in the word.

That's it. I have never given importance to words, except hip-hop. Listening to Dut or Ana, for example – to quote two with good letters – I do not stop in words. And when I had to create my own words, I realized that I'm not comfortable in the field of poetics. I try to sing as I speak. I am referring to everyday life. I've ever done automatic improvisations for the first sketch. When I started to compose these improvisations for the final version, it seemed to me to be a real nuisance. I finally finished writing a second version, using as much as possible those improvised letters. So I got to where I liked it.

The last song on the album is a remix of Akauzazte – Hegoekira Begira – which also features Anari’s voice. Is Azkoitia music a way to recognize the influence of microclimate?

I'm proud of the local scene. Then it's hard to talk about microclimate. The presence of Matadeixe is surely the cause of something. I have been a mere spectator, I have not participated in the assemblies. Yeah, at every concert. I've always flipped with the Akauzazte song, and yes, there's a tribute to the musicians of Azkoitia. As in ball, if we did the music championship between peoples, Azkoitia would be a hard rival [laughing].

You mentioned the world of Soundcloud before. Do you notice scenes outside the main loudspeakers? Which artists around you feel close?

Networks are always present. I would mention those of Eclectic Reactions Records in Bilbao, those of Crystal Mine… and also the loose artists: I feel closest to Telmo Trenor, the Azpeitiarra Paezur, Rrucculla, Mark Luva and his Sweat Taste seal, or the bilbaíno raptor Elsso Rodríguez. I also like rock. Lisabö, Akauzazte, Anakrosis, Killerkume, Borrokan or Pure Hatred, the hardcore group we have recently met. The Azkoitiarras Soma Cult also seem interesting, they make psychedelic rock. The joint work of Erkizia, Elena Setién and Grande days also looks good. And among the DJs are Katza, Balza, Atodamadre, DJ Mikel de Hondarribia… We're a little bit mystified by the 90s, but today there are some interesting things. A kind of electronic music, for example, has taken root here recently. Previously there was house, progressive or techno, but the most minority electronics have hardly been heard here until initiatives such as the Parallel or the Oreka were launched. Lately, I notice that electronics are a bit stalled. Now it's all urban music: trap, etc. And I don't know interesting urban music in Basque.

None?

The trap in Basque that I know is that of Wazemank. In the Basque Country, the sons and daughters of immigrants are the ones who draw with energy. Young people, between the ages of 18 and 20, are doing good things in the Bilbao area. Nickzzy or The Poing, for example. On Youtube, they also obtain figures far higher than those of most Basque teams that are placed in their youth. They are quite “commercial”, easy to put on the radio, but nobody mentions them anywhere. Why do they sing in Spanish? Is that why? Belako sings in English and gets into the doors. Why does the opposite happen to these people? They teach us where we live. We think we are progreen, but we have a lot to do.

What plans are ahead?

I am doing something, but I do not want to go too far. I believe that from now on I will take my work out. I'd like to post a vinyl, if possible. On this album I've taken a path, and I'm comfortable on that path. Surely there will be something else to throw away, but I'm not in a hurry. I want to continue to do what I want.