Andr\u00e9s Miguel Cervantes said the title of his new album, Songs For The S\u00e9ance, references his process as a songwriter. \u201cIt has to do with the concept of getting in touch with the spirits of the past and present,\u201d he said. \u201cExploring the memories that move us, or hold onto us. Your life experiences are a well that you can draw upon. The title song was written 10 years ago, and it took a while to build an album off of that concept.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to meditate on the ideas that arise within me and let them grow and develop on their own,\u201d he continued. \u201cA lot of time, I\u2019m composing in my mind, but I try not to get too involved with what is happening organically. I let the songs be what they want to be. The process can happen quickly, but sometimes it takes years to finish a song.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although he grew up in a home full of music lovers, it took Cervantes a while to decide he wanted to be a songwriter. \u201cMy parents both sang, but I played sports as a kid,\u201d he said. \u201cI had a friend whose mother played music. She heard me singing over the years and encouraged me. I bought my first guitar when I was 22.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through listening to the music of guitarists John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, Cervantes became interested in fingerpicking. He began teaching himself. \u201cWhen I was 25, I was gifted a Bert Jansch record,\u201d he said. \u201cThat sent me down the path to create my own music. It took years to discover my own voice and decide what I wanted to write about.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he developed a catalog, he began performing occasionally, once or twice a year, while working a day job. That changed in 2012, when he met producer Alicia Vanden Heuvel, owner of Speakeasy Studios in San Francisco. After seeing him perform, Vanden Heuvel asked him if he\u2019d like to make a record.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s one of the great poets and storytellers of our generation,\u201d Vanden Heuvel said. \u201cHis voice is unique, lush\u2014yet familiar, classic.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Vanden Heuvel producing, Cervantes recorded The Crossing, showcasing his acoustic fingerpicking and mellow tenor up front in the mix. Vanden Heuvel brought in musicians to add subtle touches of pedal steel, violin and backing harmonies. \u201cI wanted to create a sonic landscape reflecting the open spaces of the West,\u201d Vanden Heuvel said.<\/p>\n
They took the same approach on Songs For The S\u00e9ance. \u201cI recorded five songs alone, singing and playing guitar,\u201d Cervantes said. \u201cWe recorded five more with a rhythm section.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the basics down, they discussed the direction of the arrangements, adding wordless vocal harmonies that drift in and out of focus, with subliminal washes of sound supplied by other players.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Friend,\u201d a mid-tempo country tune, is driven by a heartbeat supplied by a bass drum. A gospel-like call-and-response between Cervantes and the women singing backup illuminates the chorus. \u201cI was living out in the high desert and thinking of an entity that would guide someone through the process of songwriting,\u201d Cervantes said. \u201cThe new friend is music, or my inner light.\u201d<\/p>\n
On \u201cSis and I,\u201d Cervantes plays a simple rancheria rhythm on his acoustic as he describes the childhood experiences he shared with his older sister: climbing trees, watching TV, eating at family barbecues and driving down to Mexico to visit relatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you acquire more experience, you see the world differently,\u201d Cervantes said. \u201cAs you grow as an observer, you can reflect on whatever you see in the world and make meaning out of it. It\u2019s like an artist that paints a slice of life on a city street. It doesn\u2019t have to be a profound moment; it\u2019s just a moment, and it has a value to the people who are living it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like the music of Townes Van Zandt or Leonard Cohen\u2014the ability of being able to capture something simple, that could be seen as superfluous, but it\u2019s a beautiful moment that you want to share,\u201d he continued. \u201cI want to be creative and keep writing. For a long time, I didn\u2019t feel like I had a voice. I like to keep that in mind when I\u2019m writing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andr\u00e9s Miguel Cervantes, along with Indianna Hale and Jimmy Touzel, performs on Jan. 23, 8pm at Little Hill Lounge, 10753 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. Listen to \u2018Songs For The S\u00e9ance\u2019 at: andres-cervantes.bandcamp.com<\/a>. More info at: andrescanta.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andr\u00e9s Miguel Cervantes said the title of his new album, Songs For The S\u00e9ance, references his process as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[67818,101,103,67819,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-132357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-bay-area-music","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-musicians","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}