Known for their ornate orchestrations and baroque-pop compositions, Brooklyn outfit San Fermin have always yearned for grand exposition told through the sinews of intimate connections. Their songs are lush and dappled in painterly hues that are vivid, nuanced, and possess a propulsive charge.
Led by principal songwriter Ellis Ludwig-Leone, they’ve shared studios and stages with artists like Nico Muhly, Wye Oak, Lucius, Sam Amidon, Thao Nguyen, and countless others in their quest to perfect pop’s volatile movements, to find emotional resonance in its elastic rhythms and malleable tonalities.
The band has announced the upcoming release of a new EP called Your Ghost, a 3-track collection that will be available through Ludwig-Leon and fellow bandmember Allen Tate’s own Better Company Records (which has shared records from Wye Oak, Wild Pink, Pure Bathing Culture, and others).
For our second glimpse into the inner workings of Your Ghost, after previous single “Tired of Loving You“, the band has delivered “Someone You Call Baby”, an indie-pop gem that slightly pares back the theatricality of previous songs to focus on singer Claire Wellin’s lamentations about losing touch with friends and the distance, physically and mentally, we often put between ourselves and those we love. It’s a gorgeous and heartbreaking track, a combination that the band have perfected over the years, creating and then observing the symbiotic relationship that exists between our joy and the ache we experience.
“Since Allen took over producing, my writing process has really changed,” Ludwig-Leone says. “I wrote this one at the piano and it came out almost like a ballad, which I never usually write. The song had three distinct sections we really liked, but we couldn’t figure out how to piece it all together, ’til we finally landed on a version where the first half of the song is a relaxed acoustic guitar groove, which sets up this big cathartic build at the end. Allen and I argued about this one a lot, but often those end up being the best songs.”
Listen to the song below.
The band will be playing a headlining gig at Elsewhere Rooftop in New York City on July 27, with Wild Pink supporting. You can purchase tickets here.
San Fermin’s new EP Your Ghost is due out September 9 via Better Company Records. Follow the band on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
