Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Bahraini band The Relocators launched CDs of their second album Part of Me at the Hala Febrayer festival and played their first live show of the album, kicking off a year-long tour across the Middle-East.
The band’s core trio, Faisal Amin, 33, on vocals and guitar, Ali Alqaseer, 27, on drums and Jojo Canlas, 42 on bass, met in 2008 at the Ilham music festival, now the Museland festival, and started playing together circa 2012. Cody Martin, who regularly plays with the band also joined them, playing guitar, for the show.
The band’s debut album, the eponymous The Relocators was released in 2014, and according to Faisal, compared to their first EP; this one has a warmer yet more lustrous sound.
He said: “Producing this EP in studio has given it a polished sound as opposed to the first one which was recorded and mixed on my laptop, having very little knowledge about recording and mixing.
“But the strength of the melodies in the first EP made it work and it did really well. The amateur-ness of the recording process was something we exploited and made a deliberate statement of. We are actually thinking of revisiting that kind of sound for a very raw blues album.”
With their latest album, the band is exploring funky, ambient and atmospheric vibes with a healthy dose of blues and alt rock.
Lyrically, Part of Me features six tracks with a medley of motifs ranging from nature to spirituality with an underlying message of focusing on the bigger picture and finding the connection between one’s internal and external worlds.
Jojo said: “To me, the songs explore all kinds of connections and relationships starting from the inner relationship. The songs have strong hooks, but once you get past those, they open up the doors for reflection and realisation.”
And to reflect their connection with nature, the band plants a number of trees or donates them for children education per show.
The album was recorded in Bahrain at Soundman Studios and Autonomous Studios, with Abdulla Jamal and Amin Fari co-producing the album.
The album’s artwork was designed by Sara Mohammed, also known as The Monkey Grip and the design theme moved away from the surreal themes of the first EP towards the symphonic, reflecting the synchronous themes of the album.
Faisal said at the show: “Even with the genesis of this album, there was a lot of interconnectedness. We had all these fantastic people who helped us create the album.
“For example, on Supernatural, we had a choir on one of our tracks for the first time. We had been looking for a gospel-type sound. Often when you’re looking for something and the universe just happens to cross your paths with theirs. That’s how we found Susan (Pinto) and Annie (Kennaugh) or rather, how we found each other.”
The album is available as a digital download and on CD, on a pay-what-you-can basis, with plans to launch a vinyl version in the coming months.
The trio will be playing the set, including some of their classic songs and their trademark on-stage workshop, across the region over the coming year, with shows planned in Kuwait, Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
Ali added: “In addition to the Middle East, there are ongoing plans for playing outside the continent. We played at the Nisville Jazz Festival in Serbia in 2018 and it was just amazing. We will probably revisit the region very soon and have a few more dates in other places.”
Check out The Relocators’ latest release at therelocators.bandcamp.com and follow them on Instagram: @therelocators
