“After performing at Coachella, what I noticed most was the Spanish palette.”

“I still have my first dog, the son of my aunt’s dog. He is 14 years old and I have been with him for half of my life,” the Madrid musician says of his partner Lucas. Lucas is an animal with an “inexplicable” presence and importance in his life that has been part of his “normal” for too long, but is now too old to be part of the album cover its name suggests, any more than the dog’s technical incompetence. Wisdom to sit and look at the clouds without feeling an attack of anxiety. Even if it is written in parentheses, the title would be hard for people without emotions to get a glimpse of.

In fact, that’s Marcos’ specialty in his 20s. In the Vallecas room, he knew how to decipher generational anguish and move thousands of listeners trapped by the pandemic to tears.And five years later, he hasn’t lost any of his talent, considering the comments his new songs have generated.

“I’ve been listening to your songs since 2020. I’ve grown with you. This album has made me want to change,” wrote a fan online. “I don’t know what to do with my life. The only thing that makes me happy is listening to this album,” said the other two. “It gives me another reason to keep living.” And then there’s the added bonus: “My mother passed away the day this album was released, and her songs were like the hugs I never got to give her.”

“Oh, that last one was shocking,” Crespo confesses. “How should I take such a compliment?” Well, without thinking too much about it, because it will be overwhelming if you think about it seriously. I don’t think I would be able to sleep if I placed too much importance on that.

It is often said that the greater the sensitivity, the greater the suffering. And the more a musician suffers, the better music comes out. Their first album conveyed a lot of suffering, and in that sense, this new album is just as good, if not more so, although it’s less “suspicious” so to speak.

What do I mean by not so bad?

Less pressure.

Well, that’s it. It’s not that it’s not that bad, I think it’s even worse, what happens is that it becomes less oppressive, less closed off, and starts to become more emotional.

It’s more resilient, as if it’s assuming what’s there.

Yes, all of a sudden you start being able to deal with the emotions that you’ve been blocking. And I see it as more dangerous because it’s cruder.

I think one of the aspects that makes it feel less oppressive is that he modulates his voice more and starts singing instead of reciting in a monotone.

yes. I’ve learned to sing other things, and that’s important (lol). Some things are easier to express that way. The fact that it’s a more sung album makes it feel less oppressive. It comes from using music to explore other kinds of moments, sensations, and intentions.

The album has lyrics that came from spending time on social media and studying people’s behavior on the internet. When it comes to the musician profession, I’ve read that one of the things that’s gotten most of your attention is that we’re witnessing so many new groups obsessed with numbers, “target audience”, etc…

I think it was probably a tweet he posted when he was excited about something. Yes, I see a lot of bands that have started focusing more on social media than making music. If you’re a musician, the music has to be important. Just because you record some funny Tiktok or are a heavy user of social networks, you can’t expect your music to do well and make a huge living. The beauty of all of this, and what keeps me moving forward as a musician, is in the songs. I think we’ve all seen artists release videos as soon as they start and they go viral, but I realize that most of them disappear quickly. People with long careers do it because they have an interesting artistic proposition. You can have a viral impact, but if you don’t have good music or it doesn’t come from an authentic place, it complicates everything. If you have both good music and a network of millions of followers, you can become a master. There are many cases. But first things first.

It reminded me of those Movida days when no one knew how to play an instrument and started groups to be cool.

That’s what always happened. There will always be kids who want to have sex with guitars, and there will always be people who use music not as an end in itself, but as a means to something else.

I’ve read that at one point he felt numbers were conditioning his creative process, telling himself things like, “Quiet, stop, I can’t go here.”

Yeah, because suddenly you find yourself in a maelstrom where everyone doesn’t stop releasing music, this works, this works, they feed your head with trends… They never told me what to do, I’m very happy with Sonido Muchacho. But certainly, there are times when you hear different things and wonder if you could do better because of this or that. Those are the moments when you get thrown off track and confused. Right before I made this album, I had a moment where I sat down and said, “Look, I don’t care about all this,” and I decided to just make a record that I like and that I enjoy doing. But yes, it can happen to you too. Because I see groups that seem to be trying to create formulas that are not theirs and therefore not real. But the people are not stupid either. If you’re committed to the mainstream, you could try playing a different game, but we’re not.

What impact did your performance at Coachella have? Did it feel like a turning point?

More than anything, I felt the Spanish palette. I’ve done better in Latin America and the US, and we’re doing bigger things there than we are here. It’s going well here, but in Spain at first it was like, “Oh, Sonoran Depression, what is it called? That sounds weird.” And then you get a call about a festival as important as Coachella, or as famous as Coachella, and all of a sudden you see a headline that says, “From Vallecas to Coachella.” And that’s what it’s like now, right? It’s like people here don’t pay attention until they get a call from somewhere else, somewhere important like America.

In the United States, he has a linguistic bond with the children and grandchildren of Spanish-speaking immigrants who, although they hardly speak Spanish anymore, understand his lyrics and follow his music with genuine enthusiasm.

Yes, because many of them feel abandoned and lost. They are not American, some arrive as newborns and have no nationality, but they are also not Mexican because Mexico does not consider them Mexican. They live a complex reality. And now it’s even more. Last time I went there, ICE was already there and some people told me they wanted to go and watch me play online but didn’t want to take the risk. It’s so messed up. Promoters say they’ve also seen a significant drop in the number of people attending shows by artists from Spain and Latin America.

If America continues to outgrow Spain, would you consider moving there?

I don’t know, but maybe the temperature is a little high. But I like living here and I like being close to my family, friends, belongings, gastronomy, climate and cultural background. It’s very fashionable to leave your country and experience a lot of things, but we have to cherish what we have. Sometimes it is banished from life, but now it has become very fashionable to go out.

As expected, the collaboration EP with Bb Trickz attracted a lot of attention. Did they know each other?

No, but they were big fans of my movement and wanted to do something with me. At first I was very skeptical about everything. But deep down I thought it was funny, and I always thought Bb Trickz was funny. I went there not knowing what was going to happen, but after it was over I felt like it was cool. They loved the Sonora Depression, understood it was real, and wanted to do something about it. Out came the Sonoran Depression, which was very simple, very fun, and very stupid. Very cool to hear in the background. That’s very interesting to me.

I had a strong desire for her image, so releasing a video clip with a black background as it was seemed very innovative to me. It’s as if they’re saying, “If you like this, just let it be music.”

The idea was mine. Things were very natural. At first, we were talking about making a song, but it was fun, so we decided to make it an EP. But I wanted it to be something very silly, just something, and we came together and this is what it turned out to be, and that’s exactly what it was. That is why there is also a black image on the cover. There’s a song on the EP called “Everything Is Not Important.” Because everything doesn’t matter. If people can’t understand why we came together, what’s the point…

What attracted you to Bb Trickz? Because his flow is average to say the least and it’s clear that his biggest talent is his molars. I had no idea how to play it, like Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols, but it was cool.

Of course, it’s exactly the same. She goes out wearing a T-shirt with a swastika on it, as Sid Vicious provokes, and everyone jumps on her. Because this girl has this ridiculously punk, classy thing to provoke with money and stuff. And it makes me laugh.