{"title":"Robert Sotelo","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"dream-songs","title":"Dream Songs","description":"\u003cp\u003eRobert Sotelo is a bedroom pop songsmith who lives in Glasgow. Sotelo has released six albums since 2017, three of which came out on Upset The Rhythm. He also performs in Order of the Toad, Dancer and Nightshift. Mary Currie is best known as half of touchstone DIY experimentalists Flaming Tunes, alongside Gareth Williams (of This Heat). Currie also performed in Officer! with Mick Hobbs amongst others.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduced via a mutual friend, Sotelo approached Currie last year about collaborating on four songs he was constructing with producer\/electronic guru Joe Howe. This resulted in the Dream Songs 7” EP out on Upset The Rhythm. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot only does the title capture the hazy, reflective nature of the music it also expounds on the origin of tracks. Sotelo experienced several lucid dreams in the first half of 2023 that left him in a state of confusion. He recalled visiting parts of London vividly, including a disused theatre of great familiarity, yet it slowly transpired that these places and circumstances were not real, much to Sotelo's disbelief. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese reveries informed the lyrical narrative of the four songs from the forthcoming EP. Currie took a similar approach with her lyrics, focusing on memory and time for her passages on the record. Currie recorded her parts in London (assisted by her good friend Alison Craig) and then sent them to Howe, alongside additional location recordings to consolidate into the mixes. These four tracks flutter with a minimalist bass, drum machine and keys dynamic, allowing Sotelo and Currie’s vocals to speak deeply into the back of your mind. ‘Expectations’ is a pensive triumph of whirled moments and momentum with Currie’s final words lending much gravity “the outcome of my days is always the same, a void that must be filled, a battle against time that drags us along; mutating, spinning, ebbing, flowing. Begin again, we work to give value to time.” ‘Telegraph Hill’ boasts a glossy fluidity, as it plays with images of motorways, ancient citadels, crows, paralysis and emanations. ‘Lady Fortune’ meanwhile is a tranquil treatise on fate, imbued with finessed electronic embellishments and clarinet flourishes. You can't quite trust where these songs will take you, they feel particularly mercurial. Dreams indeed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Upset The Rhythm","offers":[{"title":"Black 7\"","offer_id":50457668747595,"sku":"2216218","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/UTR166_6ccbfc52_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727207274"},{"product_id":"cusp-1","title":"Cusp","description":"\u003cp\u003e500 Copies Only on 180 Gram Transparent Clear Vinyl. \u003cstrong\u003eRobert Sotelo\u003c\/strong\u003e is the nom de plume of Andrew Doig, a 36-year-old serial musician originally from Peterborough. Andrew’s middle name is Robert, whilst Sotelo is his mother’s maiden name. Using this alter ego, he’s been able to write and record the twelve songs that make up his debut solo record \u003cem\u003eCusp\u003c\/em\u003e (released through Upset The Rhythm).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSotelo\u003c\/strong\u003e plays every instrument on the album and recorded and edited it with long-term friend John Hannon throughout 2016 at No Studios in Rayleigh, Essex. \u003cstrong\u003eSotelo’s\u003c\/strong\u003e verdant world of sound is at once intimate, choosing to build songs up from ambitious layers of instrumentation into miniature psych pop overtures of genuine sincerity of feeling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eVery much grounded in that particular forward-facing strain of mid-60s rock that edged towards Sgt Pepper, \u003cstrong\u003eSotelo’s\u003c\/strong\u003e music owes as much to Davies and McCartney’s unashamed belief in melody as it does to the uncertainty and confusion that comes with mid-thirties existentialism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCusp\u003c\/em\u003e is an album that explores the individual in a post-social life era, with \u003cstrong\u003eSotelo\u003c\/strong\u003e starting the project initially as an attempt to re-engage with the people he used to know, without relying on nostalgia as a common bond.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom this worthy spark of a plan, he’s created something grand and compelling, a vast tapestry of songs that stand up and sound afresh. \"Bring Back The Love\" is a dream-swept ballad of expansive vocal refrains and pools of spidery guitar contemplation. \"Marinade\" is a song about having no money wrapped up in a hypnotic cycle of chiming bittersweet guitars and gentle keyboard blushes. “Cut the bread, prepare the jam, spread the table, make it grand, your only ever task at hand, to take from this fair land” sings \u003cstrong\u003eSotelo\u003c\/strong\u003e with delicate precision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBronte Paths\u003c\/em\u003e is another homespun wonder-pop moment, its insistent rhythm and vocal line embedding into your very core, sounding more like a rediscovered gem than a contemporary song.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Upset The Rhythm","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50471399129419,"sku":"1014118","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/e4dd83ab-cb55-4b4b-aed9-7280c469a964_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727401236"},{"product_id":"infinite-sprawling","title":"Infinite Sprawling","description":"\u003cp\u003eRobert Sotelo is a cosmic pop melodist; a heartfelt multi-instrumentalist whose direct songs are curiously affecting. His debut album ‘Cusp’ from 2017 was packed with miniature psych overtures and earnest musings, he then followed this up in 2018 with an album called ‘Botanical’, more keyboard-minded and playful with its near-absurdist palette of sound and reflective mood. This September Upset The Rhythm will release Sotelo’s third album ‘Infinite Sprawling’, his first record since relocating from London to Glasgow and partly inspired by his new city’s inclusive and collaborative musical world. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecorded with Ruari MacLean (of Vital Idles, Golden Grrrls) and Edwin Stevens (Irma Vep, Yerba Mansa) at their home studio Namaste Sound, ‘Infinite Sprawling’ grew out of Sotelo’s sketchbook of skeletal songs, with MacLean and Stevens developing their own drum, guitar and keyboard parts. These songs pulled together like a wakeful stretch on a Sunday morning, flowering with a lightness of touch, sounding both carefree and brisk.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis keenly robust album of new beginnings and strategies for living is quietly drawn to a close with ‘Message Of Beauty’, a relaxed ballad of drowsy farewells, swoons of violin and swirled clouds of organ drone. It occupies the very heart of the album, interested in adjustment and resolution in a muted, delicate manner. ’Infinite Sprawling’ is an album born out of new friendships, in a new country and for all its feet-finding sounds confident and emphatically considered. It’s a work of autofiction in search of quietude, a sublime treatise on the nostalgic threads of rock music, but more than that it’s a signpost to the next destination, a place where Sotelo knows he’s content to have arrived already.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Upset The Rhythm","offers":[{"title":"Green | LP","offer_id":50472056422731,"sku":"1070038","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/786ec87d-b996-45c8-bfb0-540a8d7654ae_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727417608"},{"product_id":"celebrant","title":"Celebrant","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRobert Sotelo\u003c\/strong\u003e is a mercurial melodist building a resplendent world of pristine DIY pop from the ground up. The Glasgow-based artist’s songs are meticulously crafted, patchworked together with eclectic arrangements and ardent vocal performances.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEach of his albums to date has been accompanied by a growth-spurt, 2017’s debut \u003cem\u003eCusp\u003c\/em\u003e was packed with miniature psych overtures, whilst 2018’s \u003cem\u003eBotanical\u003c\/em\u003e was more keyboard-minded and playful with a near-absurdist palette of sound. \u003cem\u003eInfinite Sprawling\u003c\/em\u003e came out towards the end of 2019 and surprised with songs pulled together like a wakeful stretch, brisk with a lightness of touch. This was neatly followed by ‘Leap \u0026amp; Bounce’ melding a sparse synth-pop minimalism to an emotional undertow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUpset The Rhythm now release \u003cstrong\u003eRobert Sotelo’s\u003c\/strong\u003e vivid new album \u003cem\u003eCelebrant\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003cem\u003eCelebrant\u003c\/em\u003e was intended to be and still is to some extent a joyous wedding album (\u003cstrong\u003eSotelo\u003c\/strong\u003e is recently married), but in his own words “the pandemic and the death of my aunt Carmen intersected with the original concept so the album is darker than intended in places.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMore cinematic and measured than prior albums, \u003cstrong\u003eSotelo\u003c\/strong\u003e expounds that “it is purposefully a bigger sounding attempt at my keyboard songs and I felt more ambitious about it in general.” That’s certainly reflected in these twelve sophisticated loops of song, all curiously affecting and catchy, sprinkled with \u003cstrong\u003eSotelo’s\u003c\/strong\u003e offbeat musings and keenly accurate observations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGuitars\u003c\/strong\u003e are rarely employed on this record with \u003cstrong\u003eSotelo\u003c\/strong\u003e recruiting Iain Mccall, Ross Blake, Celia Morgan and David Maxwell to contribute brass, woodwind, spoken word and acoustic drums respectively. All of these additions blend well with the album’s synthetic core, softening and subtly shaping its pop-first nature into something more nuanced, vulnerable and human.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCelebrant\u003c\/em\u003e is a plucky synth-centric collection of unbridled songs at times surefooted at others threatened by disconnect, skilfully steered by \u003cstrong\u003eSotelo\u003c\/strong\u003e with typical classy touch. ‘Dear Resident’ is divinely metronomic, ‘Behaviour’ luxuriates in pitching a silken saxophone into a frenzied drum-off. ‘The Currency Is Love’ swaggers with 80s vibes aplenty: “all the globe is listening as a system of concern” sings \u003cstrong\u003eSotelo\u003c\/strong\u003e in clipped manner, enjoying the placement of each word in each song precisely, however seemingly stumbled upon and surreal their selection might seem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOther highlights include title track ‘The Celebrant’ with its lush environ of droning keys, swooning woodwind and baroque reverie, and ‘This Is My House’ a woozy, maze-like triumph of melody. ‘Influencer’ is similarly masterful with melancholic strains of synth, sax and voice: “extract the data from the fruit straight off the tree, conducive testing proves it’s not reality, create a substitute to simulate the tide, with rich efficiency the differences can hide.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe song itself a cipher for an ill-imagined future we might be living in already.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith \u003cem\u003eCelebrant\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eRobert Sotelo\u003c\/strong\u003e has made an album that sounds as big as its heart and imagination, true depth of feeling, true depth of connection. It’s an ornate album, complex and thoughtful, a fitting tribute to a wedding in unsettled times. What a treat that we’ve all been invited to the reception.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Upset The Rhythm","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50475302814027,"sku":"1132251","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/16d85b74-5d63-4c07-9708-ece981a8d4c6_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727446073"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/robert-sotelo.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}