Straight from Berlin, Family Time teaches us ‘New Positions’.
On their debut album, The Great Abismo, Family Time built a Mallorcan myth around themselves. Stowed away on the Spanish resort isle, they staged a conceptual pop opera, posing as a covers band to sneak onto stages in bars and at hotels, from which they could regale audiences with their woozy, soulful psych-pop. The record’s standout single ‘Magic Abyss Hotel’ is an anthem for contemplating the void at sunset, sipping bottomless sangrias.
In 2021, though, the illusion subsided. Family Time retreated to Berlin – suntanned and ready to write their next batch of delicately constructed grooves. The first fruits of sessions in a subterranean makeshift studio are now ripe and the band returns with ‘New Positions’, a rumination on the mathematics of love. Evaluating love through the esoteric metaphor of political public opinion polls, Family Time conjure melodramatic melancholia in a cinematic form of soft rock to which you might flick through photographs of a honeymoon on Mallorca.
Having heard that our favourite Spaniards are up for a new adventure, we had to catch up with the duo to look to the future for our FACING FORWARD series, because, there’s always time for family.
Congratulations on ‘New Positions’. How are you feeling about the release?
Oscar: We’re feeling good and healthy, but it’s always a bit intense to try to understand your own song through the ears of a whole lot of strangers.
Can you explain the thought and inspiration behind ‘New Positions’?
O: I was sitting at a café in London in the winter and went through a pretty strong caffeine rush experience. I got a weird sense that this café contained within it all the cafés I had ever been to, and those I could only imagine. Most of the ideas for our new songs came from that one ridiculously feverish sitting. I was going through a period of heavy doubt, and this song began as an exercise in comparisons—sort of trying to ‘figure out’ love. It’s a cold, mathematic frame of mind that can be quite sad when you’re considering intimacy and trying to figure what it’s worth.
What do you envision the future of music to look like?
Max: At this pace, the collapse of genre boundaries seems inevitable. Independent artists now have the chance to shine, mixing any sort influence without the great filter of big labels. It used to be a bet on what the next big thing would be, now it‘s a constant flow of indie releases merging anything and everything. From a more grim perspective, there‘s a case to be made on why Spotify and its powerful editorials / playlists have the power to shape how music is made. Since it’s known that if a song checks certain boxes, it‘s more likely to get on a big playlist. That’s a future I’m not too keen on.
What is one change you’d love to make to the industry?
M: I think this applies to all kinds of consumption. But let’s just say I’m still very much into listening to the whole body of work an artist puts out there. This is clearly getting lost and the general interest is shifting towards a quicker and shorter way of experiencing art. Shoutout to tik tok.
If you could collaborate with any musician in the future, who would it be and why?
O: We’re playing with the idea of collaborating with our band more. It’s been a decade now of making music in a very secluded way, and now we’ve got these magical, beautiful friends who could help us go in all sorts of directions. Shout out to Dudu, Max and Jorge.
Who are you betting on for future stardom?
M: Billie Eilish. You heard it here first.
Where would be your dream venue to play?
O: A fin-de-siècle Viennese café, in fin-de-siècle Vienna. It’s a tall order, but we’re working on it.
Where do you hope to be in the next year?
M: Dudu from the band wants to get back to his beloved Brazil, enjoy the Carnaval and drink some coconut water. Not surprisingly, we have a lot to make up for. We’re ready to hit the road and go wild for a good while, that’ll hopefully make for most of next year.
The next 5 years?
O: We have an idea in the back burner of rescuing our old hotel tour, which is how we started off, from the ashes of history and taking it to faraway lands. I’m sure there’s a pretty neat hotel circuit around the Black Sea that could use a good dose of old-fashioned indie.
Press play on Family Time’s ‘New Positions’ below now…
