Sunken Screens

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Honorio
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Sunken Screens

Post by Honorio »



Let me begin this post by saying sorry to Edre Peraza, acroamor and Chris K. for not having included comments about their music releases they have presented here. I’ve enjoyed a lot your music, sorry for not stating it before!

I want to introduce with this post a new album released recently in which I’ve participated, the self titled album of Sunken Screens (well, not that recently, it was released at the end of June 2022 but I’ve been shy about writing here about it). This is a project created by yours truly on guitars and Pepe Mallent on vocals (Pepe is also a forum member as pepemallent).

In fact the project has its genesis somehow in the Acclaimed Music Forum. Pepe and me were talking about recording something together for years but the starting point was, funnily enough, the thread about guilty pleasures (see here). I voted for a song off “Grease” soundtrack, “There Are Worse Things I Could Do,” and Pepe suggested doing a cover as a Jazz standard. And then we began to suggest other songs that could fit with that song (eventually another song from my guilty pleasures list made the cut, The Korgis’ “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime”). The songs selected should meet only two criteria: a) they should appear on the soundtrack of a movie or a TV series and b) we should be able to come with a personal touch, with a music arrangement different enough of the original (that’s why initial purposes like Twin Peak’s “Falling” were discarded, we couldn’t come up with a satisfactory approach, the original was too unique).

We entered the studio for the first time in Summer of 2018 and recorded a demo with only acoustic guitar and voice for David Bowie’s “I’m Deranged” from David Lynch’s “Lost Highway” (Bowie is the main favourite artist Pepe and me have in common). We wanted then to make a sparse album with only guitar, voice and cello but the more time we spent in the studio the more elaborated the arrangements became. We got trapped by the magic of the studio and pushed by the brilliant work of José Luis Macías (our producer) we began to bring on some musicians, coming from the Valencian scenes of rock (Salva Ortiz, Adolfo Barberá), folk (Jesús Barranco), blues (Paul Pacifico) and classical (Mariano Siccardi, Emiliano Pérez). A special mention to Samuel G Ledesma, the cello player and the responsible for the excellent string arrangements.

And now let me introduce the songs one by one:

1. “Game of Thrones Main Title Theme” from “Game of Thrones” (2011-2019). We chose to bookend the album with two instrumental songs. In this first one I played every instrument (except percussion). We chose not to include cello here even if the main melody on the original is played by a cello. We replaced it with a fuzzy guitar giving it a Morricone flavour.
2. “I’m Deranged” from “Lost Highway“ (1997). Initially only backed by a guitar arpeggio Sufjan Stevens-style, it grew in the studio with the inclusion of a classical trio of piano, violin and cello. We asked Mariano Siccardi to play the piano solo as if a cat walked over the keys. Fortunately he didn’t follow our advice and made something much better than this.
3. “Goodbye Horses” from “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991). A long time favourite of Pepe Mallent and José Luis Macías (by the way, Q-Lazzarus, the original singer, died recently). It’s the song in which the magic touch of Macías is more noticeable, he moved the instruments up and down the song, for instance using the cello melody (initially recorded as an answer to the vocals) as an intro. Pepe and me loved it that much that we chose it as the first single (not a physical release but as a music video).
4. “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime” from “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004). One of my guiltiest pleasures. And maybe the cover I’m more proud of, especially of the bass part (played by myself) and the way the cello intertwines with the E-bow during the chorus. One of the only two songs with real drums, superbly played by Salva Ortiz, with a coda with echoes of Bowie’s “Five Years.”
5. “The Shadow of Your Smile” from “The Sandpiper” (1965). A standard that Pepe always wanted to record (he sang exquisitely on this one). It includes a Scott Walker sample throughout the song (and the sound of Macías boiling an egg on the intro).
6. “Way Down in the Hole / Red Right Hand” from “The Wire” (2002-2008) and “Peaky Blinders” (2013-). Initially we wanted to cover both songs separately but we decided to do a medley when we noticed the similarities between them (obviously Nick Cave was influenced by the Tom Waits tune). The song features the collaboration of our English friend Paul Pacifico that played an awesome harmonica part.
7. “Little Baby” from “The Affair” (2014-2019): a family affair. My wife Ana suggested the cover, my brother Jesús sang excellent backing vocals (joined by my daughter Mar and Pepe’s daughter Pilar on the shoo-be-doo-bees) and Pepe’s son sang beautifully the call-and-response part during the bridge.
8. “I’ll Be There For You” from “Friends” (1994-2004). Covering a song as widely known as this one is a tricky affair. I don’t know if we succeeded but it was highlighted by the only professional review we had: “Can the power pop of The Rembrandts be abbreviated until losing the “power” and becoming a radiant mid-tempo almost like americana?” (Carlos Ciurana for Los Pilotos Suicidas).
9. “Far from Any Road” from “True Detective” (2014-2019). Let me highlight the cellos (reproducing the melody played in the original by mariachi trumpets) and the wonderful electric guitar played by Adolfo Barberá (a true legend of rock in Valencia and the producer of the first recording of my first band back in 1983).
10. “Dark End of the Street” from “The Deuce” (2017-2019). The first of three consecutive songs retaining the original concept, only guitar, cello and vocals. And one of my personal favourites of the album, especially because of Pepe’s vocals and Samuel’s great string arrangements.
11. “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” from “Grease” (1978): the guilty one. A guilty pleasure of mine that was also guilty for igniting the whole project. We tried to play it as a jazz standard. And we didn’t change the pronouns on the song, something that gained for us the absolute honour of appearing in Dan’s list of LGBT-related songs.
12. “Tuyo” from “Narcos” (2017-2019). The third song retaining the original concept is also the only song sung in Spanish, our native tongue. Pepe sang it tastefully, a little behind the beat, modelled in the vocal styles of Caetano Veloso or Joao Gilberto.
13. “Let the Mystery Be” from “The Leftovers” (2014-2017). Pepe and me recorded a one-take demo and we sent it to my brother Jesús that completely transformed the song adding amazing parts of banjo, lap-steel, autoharp and backing vocals, with my younger brother Miguel also adding a bass part and Macías percussion created from samples of washboards and bicycle bells.
14. “Cold Little Heart” from “Big Little Lies” (2017-2019). Another one of my favourites, the backing vocals of Mar, Pilar and (my niece) Carmen, the fantastic strings and especially the drums by Salva Ortiz (another legend of rock in Valencia) that transformed the slow-soul beat of the Kiwanuka original in a faster pop rock beat in a similar vein as R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion.”
15. “Running Wild” from “The Sopranos” (1999-2007). The instrumental that closes the album features outstanding performances of the classical trio.

Official credits:

Sunken Screens are Pepe Mallent (voice) and Honorio Barranco (guitars)
Arrangements: Sunken Screens and José Luis Macías
String arrangements: Samuel C. Ledesma
Production: José Luis Macías
Cover art design: César Mallent

Recorded in Estudios La Sala, Valencia, from August 2018 until August 2020

Personnel:
Pepe Mallent: lead vocals (2-14), backing vocals (2-4, 8-10, 14), whistle (6)
Honorio Barranco: electric guitar (1, 3-8, 10-12, 14), acoustic guitar (1-3, 7-9, 13-15), Spanish guitar (1, 7, 12), E-bow (3, 4), bass (4, 6), percussion (6), vocals (6)
José Luis Macías: keyboards, programming, electronic percussion, samples, production (1-15)
Samuel C. Ledesma: cello (2-4, 6, 9-12, 14-15)
Emiliano Pérez: violin (2, 4, 15)
Mariano Siccardi: piano (2, 15)
Jesús Barranco: backing vocals (7, 13), autoharp (13), banjo (13), acoustic guitar (13), lap steel (13)
Salva Ortiz: drums (4, 14)
Rodrigo Quezada: percussion (1)
Paul Pacifico: harmonica (6)
Adolfo Barberá: electric guitar (9)
Miguel Barranco: bass (13)
Pepe Mallent Trenor: vocals (7)
Mar Barranco, Pilar Mallent, Carmen Barranco: backing vocals (7, 14)

And that’s all. Hope you like the album. You can buy the CD at https://juanvitoria.com/shop/cds-de-mus ... ns-cd.html


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Dan
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Dan »

Woop! I’ve been waiting for this.

I’ve heard this album a few times now, but thanks for shedding light on how it all came together, Honorio. I particularly enjoyed reading about the tracks where your and Pepe’s family got involved, as I’ve had the pleasure of meeting your lovely wife and kids.

I thoroughly recommend everyone to give this album a spin. You won’t be disappointed. And Honorio, I hope you don’t mind if I quote some of my thoughts about the album that I’ve sent you previously:

“I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t expecting this. Maybe I thought it would be more of a rock album because of some of your previous recordings. But I should have known that it would be much more than that based on your (and Pepe’s) broad taste in music. There’s a wonderful variety of genres represented here, yet there is a seamless uniformity in production. The arrangements are lovely too.

Overall, I think you did justice to the character of the original songs while at the same time giving them a character of your own.

Pepe’s voice sounds rich and fresh, and his English diction is spot-on. And your contribution on guitar and other instruments are marvellous… but it’s clear to me that you had much more to do with the creation of this album than “just” playing instruments.

Your album has a very enjoyable atmosphere (elegant and sophisticated, with the added charm of being unpredictable). You should be very proud of it!”
...will keep us together.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Henry »

Looking forward to listening to your songs during my visit to NY.

Thanks for sharing the stories for each of the songs.

I am also interested in listening to any original Honorio-composed songs from the past if you could remind us of how to find these.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Nick »

That was awesome Honorio, thanks for sharing! It's always good to check out the creative endeavors of other Forumers.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Edre Depeche Head »

I cant wait to check this out, I love seeing people on this forum create music. No need to apologize to me either! I plan on releasing my most personal work yet sometime this fall!
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Toni »

Wow, Honorio! Proud of you and Pepe for realeasing an album. Looking forward to hearing it asap.
I have heard some of Edre's great music too, but didn't notice acroamor and Chris K had realeased songs/albums also.
Gonna look for the music from all of you, guys.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by bootsy »

Going by the Goodbye Horses video, this sounds really good. The music is real clean and crisp with a good blend of instruments and nothing is overpowering.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by digitiser »

Truly exceptional music, and a great video to boot! Thank you for sharing this with us.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Brad »

Agree with the above - video was very well done, great guitar tone, everything's so crisp. Looking forward to hearing the whole album!
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Honorio
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Honorio »

Thank you very much for your nice comments, my friends! Especially to Dan, whose comments (that sent me personally) made me overcome my shyness and make this thread. By the way, I hope the Spotify link is available everywhere, if not please let me know.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Romain »

When Game of Throne meets Morricone! :-)

I thought a lot about Calexico while listening to the songs. You have brought sunshine to my heart.
The production is really good and it's a treat to see you perform in the video.

I hope with all my heart that you can continue like this.

You are a prominent member of this forum.
The king is absent, long live the king (sorry Henrik).
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Honorio
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Honorio »

Hey, thank you very much, Romain, you're so kind! I understand the Calexico connection, songs like "Far from Any Road" have Americana flavours. But the King is and will always be Henrik!!! :mrgreen:
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Henry »

Goodbye Horses was very enjoyable. The vocals are sweet and the instruments are played with great skill. Thanks for sharing your wonderful music with us.
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Honorio
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Honorio »

Thank you very much, Henry!
I'm busy right now with the rehearsals of the live premiere of the album that will be held on the 7th of December. We will have great musicians and a video DJ that will show images of the movies/TV series. I wish some of you could come but I know it's impossible.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Honorio »

Something extremely (but positively) weird happened on the last two days that I want to share with you. Pilar, pepemallent’s daughter, made a 10 seconds Tik Tok video with an image of Pepe looking at his phone with the text “my dad released his first album and every day look at his phone to check if there’s someone listening” with the subtext “he said to me: “we still have <1000 streams” wanna cry”. You have the link here: https://www.tiktok.com/@tinyspiderfromm ... _webapp=v1
Well, so this Tik Tok video has now more than 9 million views in only 2 days, with more than 13 thousand comments, almost unanimously positive. The average comment is along the lines of “I came here to support but I loved the music.” Pilar was extremely smart for not putting the name of the band or a link to the album, her followers were the ones that found out, something that increased the expectation.
The fact is that two days ago we had little more than 100 listeners in Spotify and now we have almost 100,000. We are Top 15 in Mexico or Chile and people are listening to us in countries like Congo, Turkey, South Korea or New Zealand. If someone would have told me three days ago this was going to happen I wouldn’t have believed a single word.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by StevieFan13 »

Honorio wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 12:19 pm Something extremely (but positively) weird happened on the last two days that I want to share with you. Pilar, pepemallent’s daughter, made a 10 seconds Tik Tok video with an image of Pepe looking at his phone with the text “my dad released his first album and every day look at his phone to check if there’s someone listening” with the subtext “he said to me: “we still have <1000 streams” wanna cry”. You have the link here: https://www.tiktok.com/@tinyspiderfromm ... _webapp=v1
Well, so this Tik Tok video has now more than 9 million views in only 2 days, with more than 13 thousand comments, almost unanimously positive. The average comment is on the line of “I came here to support but I loved the music.” Pilar was extremely smart for not putting the name of the band or a link to the album, her followers were the ones that found out, something that increased the expectation.
The fact is that two days ago we had little more than 100 listeners in Spotify and now we have almost 100,000. We are Top 15 in Mexico or Chile and people are listening to us in countries like Congo, Turkey, South Korea or New Zealand. If someone would have told me three days ago this was going to happen I wouldn’t have believed a single word.
I’m so happy to hear that, dude! You all absolutely deserve it.
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand - Sir Duke (1976)
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Henrik »

This is fantastic, Honorio! So worthy!! Where will this take you!!? :music-guitarred:
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Honorio »

Well, who knows? Someone asked in Tik Tok "when are you coming to play in Costa Rica?" An American tour maybe? :mrgreen:
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Dan »

How lovely that the mood Pilar captured in that short Tik Tok video is leading to what feels like a real-life fairy tale. It's wonderful to see the number of Spotify listeners continue to rise. Keep enjoying the moment, Honorio!
...will keep us together.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Romain »

Now that's a heartwarming story. It's beautiful and I hope it will in fine bring you some opportunities! !
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Honorio »

StevieFan13 wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:20 pm I’m so happy to hear that, dude! You all absolutely deserve it.
Dan wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 8:54 pm How lovely that the mood Pilar captured in that short Tik Tok video is leading to what feels like a real-life fairy tale. It's wonderful to see the number of Spotify listeners continue to rise. Keep enjoying the moment, Honorio!
Romain wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 7:54 am Now that's a heartwarming story. It's beautiful and I hope it will in fine bring you some opportunities! !
Thank you very much, my friends!! Yes, Dan, I feel like in a real-life fairy tale. Today we've appeared in the news on Valencia TV and as a result we have sold out on the live show for tomorrow.
One of the things I like the most of having finally an audience is being able to know their preferences. Right now "I'm Deranged" took the lead position (with more than 140.000 streams and #7 in Chile and #8 in Mexico), followed by “Cold Little Heart,” “Game of Thrones,” “Far from Any Road” and “Goodbye Horses.” The high position of "Far from Any Road" and the difference between "I’m Deranged" and the others is what surprised me the most.
Thanks again!
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by andyd1010 »

This is awesome, Honorio. Congrats on the success and I hope it keeps coming!
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Brad »

Honorio wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 6:43 pm An American tour maybe?
Let's make this happen!
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Romain »

Honorio wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 8:03 pm Thank you very much, my friends!! Yes, Dan, I feel like in a real-life fairy tale. Today we've appeared in the news on Valencia TV and as a result we have sold out on the live show for tomorrow.
One of the things I like the most of having finally an audience is being able to know their preferences. Right now "I'm Deranged" took the lead position (with more than 140.000 streams and #7 in Chile and #8 in Mexico), followed by “Cold Little Heart,” “Game of Thrones,” “Far from Any Road” and “Goodbye Horses.” The high position of "Far from Any Road" and the difference between "I’m Deranged" and the others is what surprised me the most.
Thanks again!
It's better everydays :-)
Great great great for you, your family and your friends 8-) it must be so satisfying when that happens!
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by VacantJoy »

congrats Honorio
DONATIONS TOWARDS ME -> https://revolut.me/anastagf0s
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Miguel »

Well, I've already heard (it's about time!) the album of our friends Honorio and Pepe Mallent, and I totally agree with the enthusiasm of Dan, Romain, Henrik and other members of this forum: Sunken Screens is a great album, full of covers that have no reason to envy the originals.

I think only two covers are somewhat disappointing - The Shadow of Your Smile and Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime (yes, a guilty pleasure for me too) - but, even so, they are still appreciable songs, with very interesting instrumentation, besides. But the rest of the tracks are, in some cases very remarkable (I'm Deranged, Goodbye Horses, Way Down in the Hole – Red Right Hand, Far From Any Road, There Are Worse Things I Could Do, Yours) in others, really excellent (Little Baby, The Dark End of the Street, Let the Mystery Be, Running Wild). And in some cases (Game of Thrones, I'll Be There for You, and Cold Little Heart) the covers even manage to surpass the originals.

I totally agree with this review mentioned by Honorio. I think the first paragraph sums up very accurately what this album means.

Sunken Screen will definitely be on my "best of the year" list.
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Honorio
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Honorio »

Hey, muchísimas gracias, Miguel!!

I'm really glad to know you liked the album so much! And I'm really grateful for your comments (even if I have to disagree with "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" since, as I told before, it's one I'm quite proud of). I especially appreciate you consider some of the covers may surpass the originals (that's not true but thanks anyway) and your praise of "Little Baby" or "Dark Side of the Street," songs that are not getting many comments but I personally like. Thanks again, Miguel, and merry Christmas to you and your family.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Miguel »

"Dark Side of the Street," songs that are not getting many comments but I personally like
Without a doubt, The Dark End of the Street is one of the great achievements of the album, because I think is very very difficult to get a high-level cover, especially when you look at the number of such good covers that have been done. Here are some of them. Personally, I have a soft spot for this one by Ry Cooder.


Thanks again and Merry Christmas to you, Pepe and your families.
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by aalamar »

Ok, I have the cd :P :P :P
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Honorio
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Honorio »

Yes, aalamar, you were one of the very first who bought the CD!! Thank you very much for that!!!
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Honorio
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by Honorio »

Glad to announce that today we reached more than 300,000 monthly listeners and more than 1,000,000 streams on Spotify!!
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Re: Sunken Screens

Post by prosecutorgodot »

wow truly amazing
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