FERRAN PALAU - Aniversari feliç

Now on his eighth album, Ferran Palau delivers one of the most intimate chapters of his songbook. "Aniversari feliç" is a record that breathes at low volume, asking the listener for the same care one would give to something fragile. Born in 1983, the Catalan singer-songwriter has arrived here after a long journey: from his beginnings with Anímic - whose trajectory started out as woodsy, rural folk before venturing into the darker recesses of electronics - to a solo career that has seen him strip his sound down further with each album. This time it's percussion that has been sacrificed, left out entirely, with only guitars and strings left to handle the rhythm as well.

If works like "Santa ferida" or "Kevin" had already introduced his world of relationships, desire and silences, "Aniversari feliç" takes a further step inward: it's a domestic record, made with few elements and a very clear idea of subtraction. The songs unfold slowly, built on soft guitars, barely-sketched keyboards, rhythms that never push forward. Palau sings in Catalan, without emphasis, as if he were right beside us, murmuring a thought of his own.

Palau has spoken of his music, with a touch of irony, as "metaphysical pop" - that is, a "mysterious and undefined kind of pop that creates an atmosphere for the listener". The definition fits well when it comes to mystery, indeterminacy and atmosphere, and also to the melodies, which are one of the strong points of his work. Beyond that, we're closer to the tradition of North American indie-folk, and consequently far from the Mediterranean - unless you climb in altitude and venture into a foggy conifer forest, amid drizzle and low clouds, as pictured on the cover (more successful than on his previous records).

The title "Aniversari feliç" plays on ambiguity. Released on his birthday, January 24th, it's less a festive celebration than a reflection on time passing, on couples, on the coexistence of happiness and disenchantment. The songs recount small everyday gestures, resurfacing memories, promises half kept. And they flow by one after another, like so many thoughts unspooling one over the other, close to the heart, between tenderness and melancholy.

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14/02/2026