Hailing from Spain, ASTRO FONDA, is an international project that focuses on bringing some freshness and joy to the soulful-pop scene. His deeply emotive and personal lyrics talk about a range of diverse topics including; growing into adulthood, change, time and being forever seeking. In 2019 ASTRO FONDA separates from his band Flora Dance and officially announced the new project and performed for the first time as ASTRO FONDA with Sofar Sound Paris.
“If I Was A Bird” is a jump into ASTRO FONDA’s paradoxical experience. In 2016, after a year in Chicago, ASTRO FONDA quit his regular career to pursue his unknown future. “If I Was A Bird” tells a moving story of rebuilding your life and discovering yourself at a time of feeling lost. MAking changes in life is difficult without knowing what your plan B is. Through “If I Was A Bird”, ASTRO FONDA was able to find a new path in recognizing his re-birth. The pure and soulful musical arrangements provided the expert metaphorical energy to match the raw lyricism. ASTRO FONDA is able to put his pen to paper and create emotive poetry, “If I Was A Bird” is proof of that skill. I recommend you check out the light hearted, yet meaningful music video to match. The single premiered on YouTube with a short film by Tarantula Viva early July 2019.
Listen to “If I Was A Bird” here and keep scrolling for more with ASTRO FONDA.
Welcome to BuzzMusic ASTRO FONDA! Can you start by telling us more about yourself and how you got started making music?
Hello! Thank you for having me. Well, my name is Antonio, I’m 24 years old and I was born and raised in Madrid. I started playing piano when I was 4. My parents wanted me to learn, I surely didn’t. Ten years later I started a band with my best friends from high school and that’s when I started having fun with it. That’s when I started writing my own songs. That band changed names and members except for my friend Javier Linares and me, we always stayed together. Two years ago we started a band called Flora Dance, with guitarist Marcos Soriano and drummer Rafa Moout. It’s with this band with whom I recorded If I Was A Bird and a few other songs, during last fall. But sadly, we ended up splitting up after recording the album. We split the songs from the album so I could keep the ones I had written. That’s when I chose the name Astro Fonda and decided to start my solo career. This happened three months ago.
Who are your musical influences? How do inspire your sound?
I’ve listened to a lot of music from the 60’s and the 70’s. The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Dylan, Bowie… I have a harder time finding modern bands that I really like, but there are some: Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Beach House, Fleet Foxes, The Tallest Man on Earth and I recently fell for 1,2 Kung Fu by Boy Azooga, what an album. But that’s not where I find inspiration though, I feel like if I listen to too much music I start loosing my own voice, so I try to find a balance.
We loved your song “If I Was A Bird”! What inspired you to write this moving track?
If I Was A Bird is a very special song to me, for many reasons. When I was 21 I spent a year in Chicago finishing my engineering studies and writing songs. When I came back to Madrid I started a Master on Electrical Engineering but I rapidly plunged into a deep crisis and I quit after just a month without a plan B.
Suddenly I had nothing to do with my days and no plan whatsoever. That was a weird time. There were days when I felt great and free and others when the feeling of wasting my time really depressed me. I didn’t know what to do with my life. Also I couldn’t write, I was completely blocked.
One day, to try to unblock my creativity, I changed the tuning of my guitar to a completely different one so I suddenly didn’t know how to play a single chord. The day after that I decided to travel by myself to the north of Spain to visit a friend, and I took my renewed guitar with me. Half way there I stopped the music and traveled in silence for a little while. That week I had read that in order to create, you must stay out of the way and let the creative energy flow through you, like a divine dictation. I decided to try it, so I waited in complete silence for something to come. It wasn’t long until I saw a flock of birds flying ahead of me and out of nowhere I sang “If I was a bird…” just like it appears in the song. I stopped the car and wrote the rest of it using the same technique, just observing and letting it come. Also, as I mentioned before, I didn’t know any chords and I had to make them up on the fly, so I was forced to keep things simple.
That song is literally a description of the forest I was sitting in, but through the prism of someone who feels completely lost.
Is all of the music you create based on meaningful life experiences?
Not all of it, but they tend to make the best songs so in the end they’re the only ones that I show.
What’s next for you ASTRO FONDA?
Releasing more songs! I have a few singles coming out in the next couple months and an album called 'Astromania' that I think you will like.
Connect with ASTRO FONDA on social media:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/astrofonda