By chance I happen to be at the London home of Lena Dunham, creator of the hit series Girls. I was invited by her husband, the Anglo-Peruvian musician Luis Felber (Winchester, UK, aged 39), who I met at a concert. The four-story building in Islington, decorated by Dunham in a welcoming hyperbole of Victorian architecture, pastel tones and age-old motifs, houses the recording studio in the attic where Luis transforms into Attawalpa. He’s in Los Angeles, shooting a feature film, good sexwith Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo, Rashida Jones and Meg Ryan.
“I wrote my first song when I was 16,” explains Felber after preparing some infusions. “It was called ‘Walking Down the Road’ and was about Joe Strummer’s death and the sadness it left me with. I played in the Eraserheads, a band of three marijuana-eating guys, in Nirvana, in the 70s New York punk scene and in MTV2. I started to find my true voice, no longer screaming, when I stopped drinking and using drugs. In 2018 I founded Attawalpa and started releasing my own music. Matt Allchin, who played in Florence & The Machine, is my accomplice and friend. I used to skip school to go see his band, The Ludes. He helped me feel confident and explore my true essence, as well as composing soundtracks for television and film.
He also wrote the script for the series with his wife. Tooinspired by their relationship. It tells the story of a young American woman who, after a romantic separation, decides to move to London where she meets a musician looking for success. They are “imaginary and wild” characters, a reflection of their “love story”, that of a showrunner famous and an artist who lived his childhood in Peru and, despite having a British father, suffered bullying in English school. His Andean roots – Atahualpa, like the last Inca emperor executed by the Spanish, is one of his maternal surnames – suggest a link with the rocky legacy of Lima in the 1960s, a scene full of protopunkLos Saicos, or psychedelia, Traffic Sound.
“I love all those bands: Traffic Sound by Freddy Rizo Patrón, Zulu, Termits, Los Mutables, PAX and many others,” he enthuses. “Those sounds are very important to me. Freddy is the cousin of my mother, the painter Alma Laura; he is in a sanatorium for acid abuse. My mother attended those concerts with her brothers and friends. When I was about 15, my uncle Diego gave me the compilation Return to Peru vol. 1; I was amazed that such a music scene existed in Lima in the 1960s. I try to imagine what those concerts must have been like for my uncles and my mother. How loud those guitars sounded! How much acid they would have taken! I wish I could transport myself there.
experienceAttawalpa’s second album combines vital joy and fragrant illusion in a world that denies it. Their songs with sweet melodies and volatile arrangements have been compared to the less triumphalist faction of britpopwhen perhaps they drink more of Beck’s eclectic influence. “I love your album One foot in the graveits rawness, minimalist production,” he confesses as he appears in the speech on the beachNeil Young’s lost album. “Neil is my guitar god and that album is a great example of freedom in the studio and spatiality in music,” says those who recognize the influence of Tom Waits and The Replacements, Nirvana and Pixies, Prince and Wu Tang Clan, Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth, Deftones, Slipknot or Korn.
Attawalpa is currently working on a third album which will contain songs in Spanish as well as the soundtrack for good sex. Some songs from experience They were conceived while working on the music for Dunham’s series. “Always the Girls”, “No Limitations” and “True Love Trajectory”, sung by Felix, alter ego of Luis in the series, in a very crude way. “When it came time to record them as a band, we had our experience making them great with our limitations,” he explains. “I started as a one-man band, but human interactions are the most powerful thing we have. My wonderful musicians make me cry just thinking about it. Everyone contributes so much. It’s hard to find the right musicians. It’s like finding friends who truly appreciate you, and that’s what they’ve become.”
“Music is a higher power, a universal language. It makes sense that we use it to heal, not to hurt,” says Felber
experience It is available in vinyl and also in format streaming in Dolby Atmos, released on Thurston Moore’s label, Daydream Library Series. In these times of compressed and casual listening, here is a three-dimensional experience, where verticality and horizontality merge. “I’ve always wanted to get closer to this technology,” explains Luis. “Songs like ‘Atoms’ were made for this format. We use a lot of delays and reverbs and I love effects in our soundscape, so having it in three dimensions above and around our heads is amazing. It’s the future.”
Felber assures that music has provided him with a safe and wonderful world to inhabit. The experience gives off that positive, hopeful vibe. Is music a cure for sick souls? “Without a doubt, it’s my main healing process,” he acknowledges. “Since I was a child, listening to music has helped me connect with my feelings, to try to give them a sound and a language. I’m happy to be in this phase of my life where I can project positivity and use music as I felt it before: to find my center. It’s been a beautiful journey. Music is a higher power. A universal language. It makes sense that we use it to heal, not to hurt. This world is chaos, overwhelming, but we must dance in times of war…”.
Having said that, a contradictory reflection. And a discovery, one of the fundamental albums for Luis Felber: Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse (1971) by Eugene McDaniels. “He had a great influence, rhythmically and lyrically, because of his meticulous and brilliant musicianship,” he insists. In the song “Freedom Death Dance,” the African-American musician warned that no dance will end wars, feed hungry children or bring equality and justice. experience conveys that message: without awareness, euphoria is a lie. It is advisable not to forget this.
experience
Attawalpa
Daydream bookcase series
