Pol Plaja and Lluís Huguet from Girona make up the duo of Doble & Hugsound. They closed last year by publishing their second full-length, “Slow life” (Halley Records, 22), which on March 25 will be presented at the Halley Records label’s urban night at the Cycle Resident Stamps from Barcelona’s L’Heliogàbal.
And they have just announced that they will be the opening act for the Spanish tour of the Argentine rapper L-Gante together with Zetak. Together they will go through Malaga (March 9, Sala Paris 15), Valencia (March 12, Repvblicca) and Barcelona (March 15, Razzmatazz).
You look a bit overwhelmed right now.
(Pol) Today is being a crazy day. We are not used to driving around Barcelona so much [risas]
(Lluís) Today is promo day. We have been up since half past seven in the morning promoting up and down.
You are in this together, because the project is characterized, among other things, by the union of Doble and Hugsound. How was this duo born?
(Pol) It started in a squat where they were making a reggae movie.
(Louis) It’s called “Rockers”.
(Pol) As soon as we introduced ourselves, Lluis told me that he had a studio. He was in a basement, he had four things counted, very shabby, very small…
(Lluís) Super shabby. To get there you had to overcome some very dodgy machines… But that’s where we started.
(Pol) And after six years, here we are. At first, I only did rap and hip hop. I met Lluís and little by little we tried different styles.
(Lluís) In the end we listen to very different styles from each other and we like to do very different things too. Also, we have a lot in common, musically speaking. Except for some shit that he listens to, I really like the rest [risas].
(Pol) He is already throwing sticks at me [siguen riendo]. We listen to everything, really. This makes our music like that.
“We wanted to bring up topics that would make us think and that would make others reflect”
Between the first album and the second there are many differences (either with the instrumentals or with the lyrics). Does this come from a process of evolution, since now you are more involved in the world of music?
(Lluís) In the end it is a way of professionalizing the project. So, it’s a consequence of starting to work with talented people and musicians, like the Basement Band. Sixteen music geeks get together to build an album. Now the bet is much bigger. We can play with sounds and music that surprises the public… everything is a plus that makes the first album stand out from “Vida lenta”.
It is evident that “Vida lenta” revolves around rhythms such as pop, funk, trap, disco, dancehall and bossa nova. How do two boys from Girona end up so devoted to urban sounds? How did you unite them so organically? Why have you chosen so many genres instead of betting on one or a few?
(Lluís) We have been working together for many years and we love doing many different styles, but as long as it is recognized that what we do is ours. We try to make the common thread of the songs evoke us. We always try to make every track on the album sound like us, even though we’re doing different genres.
How have you seen the reception of the album? Are you happy?
(Lluís) I am noticing that a lot of new people are listening to the album and they are loving it. We have ventured into new genres and people have liked it, people who did not say anything about our music and who have now told me that they like it.
(Pol) The reception is really cool. There is a rock that stops to understand it and to reflect. This album is about feelings, so it can make you dance as well as cry. That’s why we like people to stop and listen to it for real. This is the magic.
(Lluís) Another magic that this album has, as I have already told you, is that it has many genres and that means that the favorite songs of each one are very different. Very few agree. That’s very cool.
How was this album born? How has the process of this second album been?
(Lluís) We go back to November of last year. Ironically we wanted to make a hip hop album that never came out. We locked ourselves in a house where we were meditating on the concept we wanted to talk about. And we came to the conclusion that we wanted to make an album that talked about us, now twenty-four years old.
(Pol) The house accompanied: in the middle of the mountain, the forests, the birds… The whole band living together in the same space. This is how we started the first ideas. We did a lot of introspection. It deals with self-love and overcoming.
(Lluís) It is an album that we are ourselves. We wanted to bring up topics that would make us think and that would make others reflect. It was also our goal to talk about more difficult topics, which we hadn’t talked about before.
(Pol) The things you want to say when you are eighteen are not the same as those you say when you are twenty-four. You have other concerns, other things to explain. There comes a point that the music evolves with the lyrics without you looking for it, as you mature.
(Lluís) We made a list of party songs, flow songs and deep songs. Although most were deep, they were interspersed with the other two themes.
What would be the biggest difference between making an album at eighteen and another at twenty-four?
(Pol) We did the first one in six days smoking a lot and gas.
(Lluís) We locked ourselves up in the studio for six days, just the two of us, and we went crazy. We did fourteen tracks. The two of us were alone for many, many hours.
(Pol) Now everything is more orderly.
(Lluís) We were locked up in the house for ten days and then we continued working for a year. It has been a longer process. The depth of the themes demanded it. We wanted to feel proud and convinced of our work.
You’ve gone from making an album in six days to making another in a year. What part has been the most difficult?
(Lluís) Well, we composed eighteen songs and we had to choose ten. That was a tricky point.
(Pol) That was complicated, but I also tell you that it is a very good sign. It means that the level was (and is) high.
(Lluís) We had to choose the best and the topics that were best related to each other so as not to lose the thread of the project. Just as an anecdote, in the end we changed one when there was a week and a half left to deliver the album. We did a whole new song. We missed an Afrobeat, so we spent a week making one.
“The truth is that we are fucking perfectionists and we spend our time changing things, improving, rehearsing”
You have collaborated with people like The Tyets or Lildami… How did those collaborations come about? Have you chosen them because they have previously been references or are they people with whom you have had contact?
(Pol) They are personal relationships that we have been forging with these people. In the end, in the world of music we have been getting together. Sometimes because some members of our band also play in The Tyets or with Boom Boom Fighters… All these relationships arise because we have all gotten together in the Basement and have made a family. We met “Dami” before working together… We’ve had a really cool relationship with these people before making music together, really.
(Lluís) And when we made the album and we invited them, it was with the intention that they contribute their grain of sand, that they reflect on the concept of the album. Everything to know how our themes affected them and in what way.
How do you manage that song after song and album after album, you gain more followers and name?
(Pol) The cool thing has been to go bowling and see more peña. Before there weren’t many people, nor did they sing our songs. Now we arrive at a gig and we see that people vibrate with our songs and sing them.
(Lluís) Now we have a three times better time. Seeing the evolution of that small group of fans that have come since the first concert is magical. You get to know them and see that they are super followers.
How do you feel live? How do you deal with it?
(Pol) We feel great. Like at home. We are like little children doing what we like the most.
(Lluís) Yes. The truth is that we are fucking perfectionists and we spend our time changing things, improving, rehearsing… But once you press play and start the live show, you escape. Regarding the format, we will continue with the band, we want to give it a plus. We want to take a good look at the way we’re going to do it, because this is a hard album to defend on stage. We need it to sound good, to look good, to be calm.
Who would you like to collaborate with in the coming years?
(Pol) I would freak out with Bejo, Delaossa, Cruz Cafuné… a rock that is very far away [risas]. They are our references. There is a lot of rock. The pity is that we have not been able to close anything with them, although you are talking to people and such. I won’t tell you more because I don’t like to say anything until it’s one hundred percent closed. If it comes, it will come. Making songs in Catalan and Spanish opens more doors for you.
Can you tell me something new that you are doing?
(Lluís) It’s a “slow life” thing [risas]. Take out the album and wait a while to do something else. We live from day to day.
(Pol) For now, tomorrow we have a concert in Girona, at our house. The fans of our Girona are special. Girona is already conquered. It will be brutal, but little else we know. We will be doing concerts, but we don’t know anything else.
