The Noyrd are a two piece experimental math-gaze band from Barcelona, Spain.
I caught up with members Aitor Castella and Arnau Salto to talk about their early musical experiences, how the project started and the making of their latest record “Salidas\\Llegadas”.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you all as kids and what artists or bands did you enjoy the most?
The Noyrd-We attended lots of shows in Barcelona, one of our favorite festivals was AMFest, an experimental festival organized in Barcelona by Aloud Music. We always talk about one of our first shows when we saw Maybeshewill when they were touring their album “I was there for a moment, then I was gone”. That, for sure, was a key moment in our musician life.
Although we are not hiding, we had a past where Aitor only listened to Tool for around 3 years and Arnau was a power metal guy.
CMM-When did you all first start playing music together and writing your own songs?
The Noyrd-We met back in 2012 and started making music together in a weird cover band. I call it weird because we played covers of bands like Porcupine Tree, Anathema or Opeth.
Later and with that band dismissed, in 2018 Aitor started The Noyrd as a solo music project, he did all the mixing and recording by himself at home and was learning at the time. Back then, The Noyrd was planned as an instrumental post-rock one man band thing, but things got complicated when Aitor wanted to do live shows, so things went full circle and in the AMFest from 2022 we had a chat and Arnau decided to join the project.
It was then when “The Noyrd” really became what it is today and the style shifted from instrumental post-rock to the shoegaze and grunge mix it is today.
CMM-The band recently released an album called “Salidas\\Llegadas”. What was the writing and recording process for those songs like? Any particular gear and instruments you used during the recording sessions that helped inspire the group?
The Noyrd-Well it was a long process for sure! First guitar parts were written in 2022 and evolved a lot since then. We wrote most of the songs while jamming in our rehearsal space and iterated the songs while getting familiar with them, playing them live and hearing feedback from people that came to see us.
At the beginning, most of the sound design was made using digital modellers to have more flexibility in the sound we were looking for. But it ended up giving us option paralysis and it wasn’t until we bought some tube amps (Vox AC15 and Orange Rocker 32) and mics (e906 and sm57) that the album really started to get its shape.
Then, we also miced the drumkit in the rehearsal space and the recording began. Everything was done in a DIY vibe, vocals were recorded also in the rehearsal space and at Aitor’s home and all the mixing was done by us. Only thing we asked for help was mastering, as we were so tired already of hearing the album.
To name some more gear, Aitor is an offset guitar guy, so Jazzmasters and Jaguars are a big part of the sound of our guitars. Arnau also likes to make weird sounds out of his cymbals with violin bows and also enters other percussive elements such as a glockenspiel. As for the synths, most of them were made using GameBoys with LSDJ or controlling them with MIDI, other synths were just VSTs in Ableton.
CMM-If the band could do a score for any film director who would it be and what would the film be about?
The Noyrd-That’s a good one! We both are fans of sci-fi movies and series such as Doctor Who or Battlestar Galactica. But maybe since our music is kind of overwhelming with sounds, fast paced and weird in general, we feel like it could fit in a slasher movie genre… in space! Hopefully directed by Guillermo Del Toro or Ridley Scott.
CMM-What’s the underground music scene like in Barcelona like these days? Any other bands you all recommend checking out?
The Noyrd-The underground scene in Barcelona is an active and powerful one. There are lots of bands with an interesting approach to music and live shows that have to face a city that just doesn’t support them.
We want to fight that feeling so we are also involved in organizing shows and building the scene in Barcelona. We are involved in “Alergia Fest” and do shows around the year when we can, even if we know we are not going to earn any kind of money or risk losing some of it.
There are lots of bands and friends we’d like to recommend, but if we are keeping it simple with only 3: Maat (math post rock), Lys Morke (experimental dark pop) and Roko Banana (indie math rock) are our chosen ones.
CMM-What does the band have coming up next?
The Noyrd-Our next step is the live presentation of Salidas\\Llegadas at Alergia Fest. The first months we’ll be playing around Catalonia in more local and small venues, by the end of 2026 and beginning of 2027 we want to do a little tour around Spain.
As for physical copies, we are currently waiting for vinyls to arrive (We just did our first test pressing ever!) and we have CDs already available. You’ll find them online on the Aloud Music store and physically at our shows.
Last but not least, we have recorded a new version of our first EP Fulgor Angosto in the form of a live session in our rehearsal space. We are planning on some cassette releases in a DIY form and of course we already started working on our second album.
