Coque Malla opens up about sleepless nights spent planning the live setup for his new album, Aunque estemos muertos, which debuts on March 9 at the Palacio de la Ópera. He chooses to perform the entire album first, followed by the hits. The approach lands with brutal effectiveness, and his voice conveys a sincere happiness to be back on stage.
Around the end of 2022, he visited A Coruña with El último viaje del astronauta gigante and announced a hiatus from the stage. Was a return already on the horizon?
For musicians, the life is spent performing, often atop a stage. When a year-long pause was proposed, it felt like an eternity. In truth, he never imagined staying away so long. He framed the break as a farewell, intending to rest, then work on the new album. Yet time moved fast, as if a day had passed since he left, and he returned yesterday. A year feels like an age to him, but it provided space to present the project Aunque estemos muertos that he wanted to convey through the music.
A full year later, he reemerges with the album Aunque estemos muertos. What message does he hope to share?
He admits he does not aim to push a specific message. His songs express what he feels, not a planned transmission. The connection with listeners comes from common human experiences. He believes people share a basic fabric: four fundamental drivers that shape art. He describes humanity as made of sex, hunger, survival instinct, and a few other things, around which creative work often turns. This record contends with loss and portrays death in a tangible way, a perspective increasingly shaped by age. Aging makes death feel more real, and paradoxically, this yields a vibrant, luminous album that traverses dark emotional spaces with clarity and energy.
Talking about death feels less imposing; does it remove the taboos?
Yes, some liberation is felt, though there’s a touch of pessimism. The real release would be immortality, perhaps delivered by aliens who could cure everything. If that never arrives, the aim becomes living with death rather than escaping it. The key, as he sees it, is learning to cherish life while it lasts. For the loss of loved ones, no simple remedy exists. Through philosophy, belief, or personal practice, one can place the idea of one’s own death in a less troubling spot, yet the death of others remains a hard, unavoidable ache that must be endured and faced through grief.
You might recall hearing that this is the most proudly crafted album he has made, a milestone among more than ten records. Why this one in particular?
It represents a deliberate risk and a bold experiment. The artist had unearthed a rich vein of pop intertwined with orchestral arrangements—an approach that began subtly on Termonuclear, exploded in El último hombre en la Tierra, and continued into Irrepetible, Revolución, and others. He chose to break out of that symphonic comfort zone and create something entirely fresh, stripping away orchestral compulsion to let the band, guitars, moods, and camera-like shifts of sound redefine the songs. That artistic risk shaped a new sonic landscape and a cinematic thread running through the album, a 45-minute journey you can’t leave until the credits roll.
The idea of listening to the album in order—was that a form of escape from algorithmic listening?
Not framed that way. It’s simply his method for telling stories, with a clear beginning, a middle, and an ambiance that pulls the listener along. He credits his love of cinema for shaping this approach, with many transitions and soundscapes chosen like scenes fading into black. The live performances follow this cinematic, almost theatrical rhythm as well.
In light of his love for cinema, the release of Buscando a Coque came a few days ago. How did that experience unfold?
He’s thrilled to be part of that project. When the opportunity arrived, he thought about how he would react if the film misrepresented him. The premise is built around him, and that weight of responsibility was significant, but the script appealed to him, and he accepted. He joined in the self-mirroring humor, which he finds healthy and enjoyable. Watching the finished film left him amazed, praising it as a gem and a finely crafted comedy.