Coming from Vernon, British Columbia, the Canadian Pop duo Via Barcelonia brings us into a sweet-escape with the title track for their recent single, "Wonderland."
Offering listeners peace of mind through their warm sound, Via Barcelonia drops hints of the past while leaping into the future with a Pop/Folk approach. Their sound resembles that of Paul Simon meets The Chainsmokers, providing sound lyricism and exhilarating performances.
With their latest single "Wonderland," Via Barcelonia dabbles in the world of acapella harmonies while Taylor McKnight's vibrant electronic production pushes the listener into new sonic places. Not to mention Andrew Allen's fiery vocal performance, the track is exuding with life from each corner.
"Wonderland" begins with sweet guitar picking and Andrew Allen's relatable lyricism depicting our inner thoughts and everyday routines. Once a gripping kick makes its appearance alongside textured electro-pop production, the beat drops at the hook with a groovy bassline, which naturally lifts the listener into the celestials.
Fluttering and electrifying synths swell the hook and take us into new sonic places with each exhilarating beat and Andrew Allen's lively vocal performance. With vast sonic elements from the past and a futuristic vocal performance, we're feeling nothing but lifted after experiencing a piece like this.
While "Wonderland" drifts away like the sunset with ambient pads that settle across the evening sky, Via Barcelonia doesn't fail to paint surreal images in a short amount of time, and we admired the experience each step of the way.
You've genuinely created a thrilling experience with your recent hit, "Wonderland." Was the song inspired by life's everyday routine while encouraging to enjoy the little moments?
Thanks so much! And ya, totally, though maybe a bit more towards the idea of escapism lol! The day to day routine sometimes becomes a lot, and the idea of being able to get away from all of it to a magical place called Wonderland sounds appealing at times.
We've noticed that within "Wonderland," you've captured brilliant vocal layering that sounds acapella-inspired. Could you take us through the vocal production and how you shaped the track around the vocals?
The entire Via Barcelonia soundscape has a lot to do with the vocal layers, which we feel inspired to do based on a lot of world music. In a lot of pop music, it’s a solo vocal with some adlibs, we wanted to go a lot harder into that world and create more of a choral singalong experience. When we record it, we always start with the lead vocal and a lead instrument (in wonderland it’s the piano), and then we start stacking vocals before we add too much other production in case we step on the melody’s we’re creating.
We can't help but tap our feet with the nostalgic yet surprisingly futuristic sonic experience within "Wonderland." How did you go about merging elements from the past and the present to deliver such a unique sound?
Stoked that you hear that. It was definitely an intentional decision to pull inspiration from world music, roots, and classic genres, but with very modern pop production. In a way, that’s kind of a mix of what we listen to! We usually write the song with just a guitar or a piano so we ensure the song is strong, and then we jump into production mode and love messing with synths and drum patches to find sounds that make us feel something.
With your recent album 'Wonderland,' we've heard that your duo dabbled in the world of Folk merged with Pop. What inspired this sound for the album, and should we anticipate it for the future?
Being that both of us are songwriters, the folk genre definitely has more of the storytelling element to it, with a strong emphasis on melody, so the way we write, and the way we produce are kind of at the end of both spectrums which is what creates that fusion. I think our future album will have the same songwriting sensibilities but might even go harder into the pop realm, but who knows where the wind will take us?
This year has been extremely difficult for the music industry. What has been your biggest source of inspiration while creating new music this year?
To be honest, we created a lot of these songs pre-Covid so thankfully we were just recording them over the worst time which was easier to focus on than actually creating lyrical content. Moving forward we definitely have been inspired by humanity’s kindness and the desire to find equality, so I’d guess more of our songs will have some of these themes as takeaways.