Julio Garcia & Carmen Ros - The Warmest Place (2015)

The composer Julio García and the designer Carmen Ros, Spanish artists based in Madrid, have built a refuge to help overcome the disappointments in their lifes. Their collection of 16 tracks in English and Portuguese has echoes of music from cinema musicals and includes influences of different styles of 20th century music. They have created an imaginary soundtrack of their own personal life experiences.

For these purposes, they have met impressive singers from different parts of the world, living in Madrid: Marisa Tolentino, with Dominican roots, is the new young revelation of soul-jazz in Spain. Ruben Melogno, from Uruguay, with his powerful voice, reminds us of the legendary Frank Sinatra. Ana Vassalo from Lisbon is a classical singer who has had an intensive career which includes singing opera and classical repertory in several european cities. Carmen Ros, who has composed some of the songs and written the lyrics of the CD, also sings four of the tracks, one of them with the British songwriter Mark Walden.

Julio García is known for his instrumental music and for the unique sound of his guitar but he’s also a songwriter. On the CD he plays acoustic and electric guitar, bass, percussion, harmonica and sings backing vocals. You can also find on the CD, some of the finest instrumentalists living in Spain: the Spanish musicians Miguel Rodrigáñez (double bass), Iñaki Úcar (clarinet), Isidro Solera (electric guitar), Javier Bergia (drums) and Rodrigo M. Munuera (lute), the French Matthieu Saglio (cello), the Argentinian Laura Pedreira (piano), and the Brazilian Paulo Vieira (violin).

The CD has been produced, recorded and mixed by Julio and Carmen at their own small studio Escalera Grabaciones Intrépidas, which celebrates with this recording 20 years of musical activity.