This weekend, The Wall will play host to Mus, a Spanish band who in the world of indie rock are considered minor stars and who try their best to avoid live shows, but were willing to make a rare exception for Taiwan.
Fronted by the husband-and-wife duo Fran Gayo and Monica Vacas, Mus is usually supported by several back-up musicians, and for this trip to Taiwan they have the company of special guest and hometown friend Nacho Vegas, the guitarist from the Spanish post-rock band Migala.
Mus plays dreamy indie folk with melancholy piano and guitar melodies that almost drown out Vacas' whispered vocals. Though the lyrics are in Asturian, the local lingo of their hometown Xixon, Vacas' voice shares the mournful qualities of Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star or Laetitia Sadier on Stereolab's slower numbers. But the lasting impression in their songs, at least for someone who doesn't understand Asturian, is the somber guitar riffs that sound as if they were borrowed from Codeine, the godfathers of slow, sad indie rock.
PHOTO: MAX WOODWORTH, TAIPEI TIMES
Taipei Times met up with Mus in a coffee shop near National Taiwan University earlier this week and managed to squeeze in a few questions before they collapsed from jet lag.
Taipei Times: This is your first trip to Asia. How does it feel to come and play in Taipei?
Fran Gayo: It's good, but actually we don't perform very much. Even in Spain, we never perform. We don't like to be on stage. Well, I don't like it. Monica recently discovered she wants to be a rock star, so she likes it. But I don't.
TT: I've heard you're both fans of Taiwanese cinema. What's the attraction?
Gayo: I like the films of Tsai Ming-liang and Hou Hsiao-hsien. I feel that they take their time, they're very slow. That's nice. In Tsai's movies sometimes you pray for the shot to end. Monica, she seems to prefer Wong Kar Wai.
TT: But Wong's from Hong Kong.
Gayo: Ah yes, that's true.
TT: A lot of your songs sound like soundtracks to slow, sad movies like Tsai's. Is there any relation between movies to your music?
Gayo (confers with Vacas): Yes, in a way. Monica says our songs are stories too. They're different ways of telling stories, through the lyrics and the ambience.
TT: You've made a point of staying in Xixon instead of leaving for Madrid. Why is that?
Gayo: We just don't want to leave the place where we were born. We wouldn't be happy in a place like Madrid. It's better for us to be near our families. We could have better jobs in Madrid (Gayo and Vacas have day jobs in Xixon). Maybe we're just interested in living, but we also write songs.
TT: Has staying in Xixon had an impact on your music?
Gayo: Our town, Xixon, it has a tradition of good music. There is a lot of folk music. A lot of Spain's best indie bands are also from Xixon. I don't know why this is. It seems like a sociological question I can't answer.
TT: How does being married affect your music?
Gayo: Mus depends 100 percent on our relationship. (Monica interjects and Gayo looks up surprised.) Monica says that if our relationship ends, then so does the music. I didn't know that.
Mus will perform tonight and tomorrow with Nacho Vegas of Migala at The Wall, located at B1, 200 Roosevelt Blvd, Sec 4, Taipei. Doors open at 8:30pm.
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Tickets cost NT$850 for one show, or NT$1,200 for both shows with three Mus CDs thrown in. Single-show advance tickets for NT$750,ets cost NT$850 for one show, or NT$1,200 for both shows with three Mus CDs thrown in. Single-show advance tickets for NT$750, including two Mus CDs and a poster, are available at Eslite Music.
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