Sílvia Pérez Cruz explores 'dialogue' between art forms in new album

Sílvia Pérez Cruz, one of Catalonia's most revered singers, known for her eclectic style and virtuous voice, has released her new album 'Farsa (género impossible)'. In this work she explores the intersection between various art forms.

She recorded her first solo album in 2012. Since then, she has gone from strength to strength achieving both critical acclaim and widespread popularity, as well as winning awards such as two Goyas from the Spanish Film Institute.

Direction for the new album

The singer explained to the Catalan News Agency (ACN) that her interest in mixing disciplines stemmed from growing up in her mothers’ art school.  Since beginning her career she has also explored this interest, acting and singing in the 2016 film 'Cerca de tu casa', focused on the drama of evictions in the wake of the financial crisis.

Pérez Cruz told ACN that two of the songs in her newest work were inspired by plays, four by the film 'La noche de los 12 años', four adapted for a dance show, two for the animated film 'Josep', one for the film 'Intemperie' and another for a documentary on Catalan poet Ana María Moix. Working this way has allowed her to "discover things that (she) would not have been able to discover alone."

Her mixing of media is particularly present in 'Fatherless'. The lyrics come from famed English poet Sylvia Plath’s 'For a fatherless son'. The singer expressed that when using poems as lyrics she found that "it was like the music was already there."

In the creation of this album Pérez Cruz also experimented with makeup and photography. She created a series of photos to go with her album, each being inspired by a song on her record.

A reflection on social media

As well as this dialogue between disciplines, Pérez Cruz reflected on the themes of social media as she wrote her album.

The artist told ACN that she "was struck by the possibility of creating a robot version of who you really wanted to be or a surface image that has nothing behind it, and the difference between what we really are and what we show."

With these reflections in hand she found that art was an "absolute liberty" and for her this was the ability to explore fragility and imperfection; something seldom allowed by social media.

Her album is available on all digital platforms from October 2, 2020.