[Cover photo credit to Fernando Ruiz]
In 2020, Rudy De Anda moved his homebase out of California for the first time and headed east with a mostly finished record. Upon arriving in Chicago, Rudy quickly found the final pieces of his new LP, Closet Botanist which arrives on April 28th, 2023 via Colemine/Karma Chief Records. The single and the video “WYD” are out now.
The album was recorded in Austin, Texas at the Electric Deluxe recording studio, owned and operated by Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas), who helped Produce and engineer the LP.
Closet Botanist isn’t a total departure from De Anda’s formerly beachy, Psych-Rock roots, but it does sound more mature.
He explains:
These songs are personal to me. More than ever before, I was able to get to the point and get some things off my chest. It’s about lost love and lost friendships – it’s more visceral than any music I’ve made before.
Most of the songs were written back in California with the help of De Anda’s previous bandmates. To get the sound just right, De Anda called his California bandmates to the studio. Jon Rivera played bass, Daniel Villareal laid down the drums, and Kyle Davis took care of the organ, piano, and synth leads. Adrian Quesada Produced the album, and Aaron Glembowski engineered the sessions.
The band recorded directly to tape to channel a Classic Rock n’ Roll sound, taking particular inspiration from The Velvet Underground and The Kinks.
De Anda adds:
I glorify those bands – I’m a ’60s psych-rocker at heart.
