Interview: Ramona Cordova
by Jeremiah Griffey
It’d be difficult to tell from listening to Ramon Alarcon’s debut album, “The Boy Who Floated Freely” (ECA), but he’s actually a child of the only recent movement of pop-rock that matters – the grunge and post-grunge movements that brought us the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana and Weezer (early, of course). And he’s not ashamed to say so.
“Not at all!” the Arizonan-turned-Parisian says. “This music is quality music with feeling and taste in melody. I’ll admit some of Weezer’s lyrics are a bit youthful sounding, but they were young. We can’t lose touch with that.”
“The Boy Who Floated Freely” draws more from Jeff Buckley’s whitewashed soul and Devendra Banhart’s warble than any sort of mid-‘90s angst. It’s a playful sounding album that tells a fairy tale Alarcon wrote about a boy named Giver who gets drugged by a Gypsy girl.
We’ve all been there.
Initial pressings of the album sold out in both the U.S. and Europe, but the album has been repressed and currently resides for sale online.
“We did an initial pressing of 1,000 copies in Europe and 300 in the U.S. Which isn’t much in comparison to many artists’ sales, although, for me it’s crazy that anyone is buying it at all!” Alarcon says. “We weren’t expecting to sell this record beyond online downloads. So yeah, in this sense I’m very happy that people are getting into this, and understanding it.”
Alarcon takes on different vocal personae throughout “Boy.” Sometimes he’s a delicate flower. Sometimes he’s a willowy tree branch dancing through a light wind. Other times he sounds like Glinda the Good Witch preparing to lead a pack of munchkins in song. But he’s always captivating – particularly when he reaches inward and releases parts of his soul. Embedded within one can find the inspiration for his chosen stage name, his grandmother, Ramona Cordova.
“I didn’t want to use my own because eventually, I would like this to be more of a group of performers, and I don’t want to be seen as the front man,” Alarcon says. “Also, my grandmother has been on my mind a lot since I started this project, because she is getting old and losing her memory and such. It’s a beautiful name. I thought it fit nicely.”
Alarcon seems to have struggled with “front man-itis” throughout his relatively brief music career – he started the Philadelphia-based band Denver in Dallas when he was 17 or so.
“I didn’t sing in it because I was afraid of my voice – not confident at all,” he says. “We played and toured for four or five years and played the Warped Tour! (laughs) and stuff like that, but then we decided that we needed a break. To grow, to learn, to see life and new perspectives. It was good for us. We were kids and I see so many bands in this particular indie genre get stuck in the motions and never grow up. I still love the guys from Denver in Dallas, and we all have grown up, and of course are still growing. So maybe in a few years we’ll start a mature and interesting rock project again. I’d love that.”
Ramona Cordova will be on tour throughout the fall, but Alarcon also plans on recording a new album. He’s not sure yet if it’ll be a full-length or an EP.
“I’d like to try and shoot for recording this spring and having a new album out by the fall,” he says. “I’m really excited. I have a few new songs which I’m proud of, and once I lay on my other ideas for them, it’ll be something nice.”
2006 The Boy Who Floated Freely (ECA)
2006 Ramona Cordova/Stephen Brodsky (Bodies of Water Arts and Crafts)
