Interview with Cecilia Villar Eljuri: ‘This album is very story-driven…I pushed the boundaries of groove because I had more time’

New York singer-songwriter and guitarist Cecilia Villar Eljuri will release her fifth studio album Reflexión tomorrow (30 September), an album serving as an antidote to COVID, featuring her trademark guitar-driven grooves and passionate vocals.

Villar Eljuri’s sound unites the cultures that she was raised in and the places that she has called home: Spain, Lebanon, Ecuador and New York City: ‘I wrote this new album Reflexión as an antidote to our recent shared experience of inconceivable isolation,’ she said. ‘This album is very story-driven, I love doing arrangements, they cover the breadth of my influences, from Latin grooves to rock, reggae, funk and dance. I started it during COVID when we couldn’t go out because there’s so much to sing about. I was inspired lyrically, I pushed the boundaries of groove because I had more time. I could get in deeper. It was about feeling isolated and trying to  unite us. In the end, it wasn’t just about COVID, it was also societal. We found a studio in Rhinebeck, New York, The Clubhouse, which is Paul Antonell’s studio. It’s a beautiful farmhouse turned studio, and I lived there for six weeks.’

Her strong, emotive vocals, which are amplified by her towering, guitar-driven grooves, wrap around stories of resilience, shelter, borders and the planet. In her words, they empower ‘the Latinx community, allies, friends, and all champions for human rights’. 

‘It’s a dynamic love song resonating with the electric vibrations of the city’

She has called New York home since her parents settled there from Ecuador when she was a baby with her three older siblings. It therefore seems fitting that Reflexión’s focus track is ‘Home,’ one of the three songs on the album in which she sings in English: ‘I’m a Latin from Manhattan!’ she quipped. ‘It’s a dynamic love song resonating with the electric vibrations of the city, it thrills and excites me. I love every grand and gritty bit of it. I feel alive in my city. It’s home.’

The opening track ‘Espejo’ (‘Mirror’) features a hypnotic guitar line, defiant vocals and the memorable line: ‘El mundo es un espejo, la vida es una reflexión’ (‘The world is a mirror, life is a reflection’): ‘That was driven by COVID isolation,’ she said. ‘You felt your life flash before you, these days full of sunshine asking you to do something, but we could only dream of that.’

Her mother is Lebanese and her dad is Spanish and they both grew up in Ecuador: ‘I have tons of aunts and uncles there. My mother was a musician, she played boleros, pasillos and tangos (Olga Eljuri, a renowned composer in Ecuador). My dad was an actor and my grandmother sang. I have aunts who were ballerinas (laughs), there was a lot of art and culture happening!’

‘This younger generation cares so much about the planet, they have it more figured out than us’

Understandably, Villar Eljuri’s activism seeps into many of her songs, particularly tracks such as ‘Salva La Tierra’ (‘Save The Planet’): ‘That song is a rocker.,’ she said. ‘The music video features stop animation by Anna Raff. I’ve always sung about socially conscious things. Every day, we see we’re doing something destructive to Mother Earth. I thought it was an urgent situation, I needed to make it rock! In Rhinebeck, there’s a uni and we had around 20-30 kids come and sing the last chorus with us. They didn’t speak any Spanish, I had to write it down for them (laughs). They were the kindest bunch of people. This younger generation cares so much about the planet, they have it more figured out than us. The song means something to them and to me. It’s a call to arms.’

Activism is a big part of her daily life, too. One of the organizers of the 2017 Women’s March on New York City, she gives workshops and mentors others on how to welcome activism into their lives. She is also dedicated to passing it on, and is a regular mentor with Sound Thinking NYC, a free program especially designed to open doors for young women to explore careers in the music industry.

 ‘La Voz’ (‘The Voice’), and ‘El Camino’ (‘The Path’) both invite the listener to celebrate and participate by engaging in their community. ‘El Camino’ has a decidedly Gloria Estefan vibe to it, albeit with heaveier riffs. ‘La Voz’ is one of the danciest tracks on the album with its salsa beat and bursts of brass: ‘I’m super Latina (laughs), I love Afro-Cuban rhythms like that,’ she said. ‘For this song, I added a horn section which is incredible. I kept going on the arrangement. It’s a uniting song saying “Listen to your conscious voice and reach out the hand of compassion”. That’s a message in all of my songs, be kind to your neighbours. It’s corny but it matters. People feel that, it’s global. It felt right, lyrically. I feel that time is fleeing. You think you should make every second count, it’s about appreciating the little things.’

As the track kicks off: ‘Es más difícil de lo que parece, cree en la posibilidad. Es más difícil que parece al principio, cree en la unidad.’ (‘It’s more difficult than it seems, believe in possibility. It’s more difficult than it seems at first, believe in unity.)

‘I have different seeds in my head, it could be a melodic line, a bass line or lyrics’

Songwriting is a very organic process for her: ‘I have different seeds in my head, it could be a melodic line, a bass line or lyrics. Once I am inspired with the seed of an idea, I often pick up an acoustic or electric guitar and sing melodic ideas to flesh out the song itself.’ Interestingly, the guitar was not her first instrument but the piano: ‘It was the piano, 100%, all day long (laughs). I was five. My mother was a pianist, I would drool watching her play (laughs). I was just noodling. I always recommend it as an instrument to start with because you can see the notes in front of you. I wrote my first song when I was 12 or 13 on the acoustic guitar. I had an Ibanez acoustic but my first electric guitar was a Fender Strat.’

There is a wall of guitars behind her on our Zoom and I ask her what her workhorse guitar is: ‘My D’Angelico is a fave,’ she said, showing me. ‘It’s cherry red, it has to be red! I mainly play that and then my Gibson Les Pauls – that’s my ‘Black Beauty’, one of my Les Pauls, on the album cover. And my Fender Strat, as well as 6-string and 12-string Martins. I’ve got an electric Tres that my luthier and I built. I used all of these but primarily that and the Les Pauls on the solos. If money was no object, I would buy Jimmy Page’s “Number One” 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard because of all that positive juju and it’s my favourite guitar!’

Equally upbeat and dancey is ‘Por Tí’ (‘For You’), which is one of the funkiest tracks on the album and is essentially about a one-night stand: ‘I wanted to make people happy with this one,’ she said. ‘It started with the funky rhythm guitar line, and then I wrote the bass part and the lyrics. It’s about liberation, being free, do you know what I mean? People can relate to being on the dancefloor and saying “Yes!”.’

As the song goes: ‘Fue un encuentro por casualidad. Paso las noches pensando en tí. Un rayito de luz en mi corazón. Una parte de mi se quedó en tí. It’s magic, yes, yes, yes.’ (‘It was a chance encounter. I spend the nights thinking about you. A little ray of light in my heart. A part of me stayed in you. It’s magic, yes, yes, yes.’)

‘I think growing up in New York, I have a bit of a hard skin’

Backbone hooky riffs unite all of the songs on Reflexión. Tracks like ‘Feeds You’ open with a heavier, almost grungy riff morphing into an intro that’s reminiscent of The Beach Boys and The Beatles. The delicate trumpet line weaves in and out, giving it an old school vibe in places: ‘I think growing up in New York, I have a bit of a hard skin,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘If people are being nice to you, don’t mess with that. It’s easy to be anonymous and ignored here.’

As the chorus goes: ‘Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Don’t hurt the people that need you. What goes around comes around.’

Fascinatingly, she turns out to have a university degree in theoretical mathematics and declares herself ‘a lover of everything related to math’. Different musicians have influenced her over the years, including Bob Marley, Patti Smith, Neil Young and Celia Cruz (a Cuban-American singer in the 1950’s famous for singing ‘guarachas’): ‘Jimmy Page is an amazing guitarist,’ she said. ‘His solos are great, his rhythms are great. The riff on ‘Kashmir’ is so powerful, he has such great diversity. Bonnie Raitt’s smooth slide guitar makes me melt. Eric Clapton has beautiful melodic solos. Jimi Hendrix has electrifying solos. Matt Bellamy is brilliant, so talented. Is there anything he can’t do? Muse is such a great band, I’d like to see them live.’ If she could go for a drink with anyone, she picks David Bowie or Prince: ‘They’re good influences,’ she said.

Eljuri has had several songs from previous albums on TV and in films: ‘I would love it if my new song ‘Salva La Tierra’ was included in an important TV show that focuses on raising awareness and thereby understanding of the effects of climate change on the earth. I want to help to facilitate both behavioural change and societal support for responsible actions to protect our planet.’

Connecting with young musicians is also very important to her: ‘My favourite moment on this tour so far was when I headlined a festival in Delaware that had 100% female fronted bands,’ she said. ‘During my whole concert, a little seven year old girl was standing very close to the stage, staring at me and playing air guitar! She was adorable and seriously focused throughout the entire show, even when all her friends were twirling around and doing cartwheels. She reminded me how important it is to be a role model.’

(Photo credit: Manovill Records)