Interview with Mount Jacinto
One of my favourite songs over the last couple of months would definitely be The Reason by Mount Jacinto. The song, along with the second single, Forest, from the upcoming debut album, Silver Lining, shows Mount Jacinto’s evolution whilst retaining the modern psychedelic qualities which made me enjoy the first EP, Outward Signs, a lot.
Even though Silver Lining is the first album from Sonya Carmona’s solo project, she was quite active in the music scene in Costa Rica before moving to Zurich and starting Mount Jacinto. When I was researching for the interview I had built up a picture in my mind of the project through the music and this interview, only to discover a very interesting and unexpected musical past.
The album will be released on 29th November on Taxi Gauche Records with a record release listening party - at Jamarico in Zurich on Friday 29th November - and a record release live show at the Waxy Bar (in Zurich) on Saturday 30th. November (tickets here).
I would like to thank Sonya for her time and for her replies!
Tell us about yourself. How did you get into music? What is your musical background?
Well my mom says I started singing and dancing when I was about 2 years old and visitors to our home were amused to see this toddler that was babbling songs and dancing nonsensically but then I took interest in learning guitar when I was about 9 years old, then I started to make some weird songs as a kid, kind of ridiculous songs actually! haha!
I come from a musical background, there are several musicians in the family, a cool uncle, Vernon "El Pibe Hine", who used to play jazz in Costa Rica and New Orleans in the 60s and 70s. Listening to my dad talking about him and his stories had a great impact on my life. I thought this dude was really cool!
My dad also showed me so much music like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Etta James, Patti Smith, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Cream, The Beatles and we would sit down and watch the 1970s’ "Woodstock" documentary. I think all of this got ingrained in my subconscious and influenced me big time.
You were quite active in the music scene in Costa Rica with Colornoise and Las Robertas. What memories do you have of this era? What were your highlights?
Well, Colornoise, this was my first love project and I liked that it started as a duo with guitar and drums. I had the chance to learn a lot from my mentor Tomas de Camino Beck with whom we recorded our very first EP, he taught me a lot as a musician and as a performer and I still think of him until this day when I want to solve something or look for a specific approach.
With Colornoise I enjoyed the music, the experimenting, to be on tour in Canada, Central America and Brazil and it was basically the formative years that defined me as an artist today. Oh man! I remember once we played in a big festival made by the Lollapalooza production (C3) in Costa Rica, then somehow after the festival we ended up in a party with Bjork, Skrillex and the Flaming Lips hanging out and drinking with them. Costa Rica can get surreal very fast!
In Las Robertas starting to play bass and doing back up vocals was so fun and it unlocked a whole new perspective. Touring a lot with the band, recording in California and having been able to play Coachella was a lifelong dream. I learned a lot and it also gave me the mindset to know myself better as an artist.
How did the idea come about to create Mount Jacinto?
After Coachella I was planning to move to Switzerland I knew there was a big change coming ahead. Then me and Gini visited Palm Springs and headed to "Mount San Jacinto" park. I think I was going through some sort of a "crossroads" moment and the place was so inspiring and big that it made everything feel insignificant. I gathered the strength to move into another direction musically and spiritually. The mountain resounded so much inside of me so I decided to name the project after it and just took out the "San" to avoid any confusion between the project and the mountain.
After several years in bands, how was it to have a solo project?
I feel more confident in myself the older I get and this project makes me channel a different energy, it’s very intuitive! I'm grateful to have people around me that believe in my music and that play alongside me on stage. The only thing I want to do is to be able to make music and have great people next to me. The rest is just noise, I want to get old making music with loving friends.
How do you compose the songs for Mount Jacinto?
Usually I make the demos at home then bring them to the band to reproduce them live, Joel also brings a lot of very good inputs since he is a sound engineer and we have similar tastes. For this album, me and Joel composed the music of two songs together (Silver Lining and Turning Back).
Is there a particular instrument which you pick up first?
Usually the guitar, sometimes bass, or a vocal melody comes into my head and I start to sing it and record it in a demo but lately I have been building many songs first from the beat. I like this new method, it’s always a surprise what can come out from a simple beat.
Is it different to how when you were in more collective projects?
Yeah, it is different, somehow is easier and more practical to work this way. Also the vision is clearer and we get the results faster.
How would you compare the music scenes in Costa Rica and Switzerland?
It’s funny ‘cause it’s kind of similar to the indie DIY scene in Costa Rica. Just like in Switzerland there are great experimental musicians. I think Swiss people would really dig Costa Rican bands and vice versa. It could be really interesting to build a bridge between both countries and do a music exchange, after all... We really are the Switzerland of Central America and I also think of Switzerland as the Costa Rica of Europe haha! We both get a lot of rain and great music! And well... let's not even mention the love for coffee.
Silver Lining
How was the writing and recording of the album?
Mostly I had the songs already written except for two songs I musically composed with Joel (Silver Lining and Turning Back). Then we got the chance to get JooJoo Ashworth on a plane from LA to Zurich to record it and he brought all this magic and momentum when getting the songs imprinted into tape.
Where did you record the album?
We recorded at Daniel Bachman's Studio 29 (Klaus Johann Grobe).
What did you do differently in comparison to Outward Signs?
Everything! For Outward Signs we recorded the drums at Martin Schenker's studio (Alois and Joanhood) and then built/recorded the rest at Joel's home Studio, it was a lot of experimenting and tweaking.
Then for Silver Lining we already had a very clear idea of the sound beforehand and had many talks with JooJoo about the direction of it.
We decided to try tape for the first time and recorded everything in one week. The tape brought this really interesting texture that I really liked.
However, to record on tape is a whole different game and can be a pain in the ass too haha!
Is this album more of a collaborative project in comparison to the EP?
Yeah, it was more collaborative in the sense that everyone could change things and play around with their arrangements and little details, there has been always this openness and the mindset that we work for the greater good of the song and things can mutate. So everyone’s input is important when we record and always something comes up in the moment that can be magical!
A couple of songs are co-written and with three others to record the instruments
Yeah, Silver Lining and Turning Back were musically co-written with Joel and the album was recorded with Gini Jungi, Joel Morales, Ian Hudgins and myself.
What memories do you have recording Silver Lining?
A lot of fun and laughs. We spent so much time together in a room and drank wine, ate a lot of Swiss Cheese, experimented with so many sounds and instruments. Having JooJoo bringing all his magic into the moment was beautiful!
How does it feel to be releasing your first album as Mount Jacinto? And also in a physical format?
It's lovely and its a relief to have these songs out and about after working on them for quite a while and through Taxi Gauche Records we will have it on vinyl and in CD format which is very exciting for us to have this possibility.
Live / the record release party on 30.11
What can we expect from the evening?
Hopefully a good show and great energy. Waxy is like a home to us and the people who come usually are like family, so you can expect a very intimate time.
Have you debuted some of the material this year?
Yes, actually, we have played a lot of the songs live, we had only like 4 songs from the EP so we had to put some in there to make a 60 minute show, haha!
It seems that you played quite a few concerts and festivals. What were the highlights?
Definitely OpenAir St Gallen and Montreux were surreal and something we were dreaming of. This year in general was very active, we feel so grateful that we were able to share our music in so many places around Switzerland.
How do your bring your music to the stage?
There are currently 5 of us on stage and if someone is not available, there is a big tendency of friends coming in and out to help live.
Who's in the line-up (and from which other projects are they from)?
Right now it is Joel Morales, Gini Jungi (Annie Taylor), Yancey Aguilar (Sun Dera and Thymian), Adrian Oesch and Sonya Carmona. By the way, Adrian is going to be a father soon so we will have a new drummer coming in that we are very excited about but we are gonna miss Adrian big time! He is such a talented pure heart and a will be a sexy daddy soon too haha!
What do you have planned for the near future after the album has been released?
Hopefully to play a lot during spring/summer and to record more music as soon as possible. We are just so happy to make music and the rest is really an extra for us! <3
Links
Tickets here for the record release party - Waxy Bar (Saturday 30.11)
Order the new album here (LP, CD) on Taxi Gauche Records