With catchy melodies, 32 layers of harmonies and world music influences, the album is sure to be stuck in your head for a while.
By: Sarah Tomlinson
Andrew Allen and Taylor McKnight jumping in an alleyway (Via Barcelonia/ LMW Photos)
Via Barcelonia’s new album is a fusion of alternative pop world music that will take you on a journey through Wonderland.
Via Barcelonia is a two-man band composed of Andrew Allen - a Gold-selling songwriter with credits on Multi-Platinum and Grammy-nominated albums - and Taylor McKnight - a skillful producer, percussionist and vocalist. Back in 2018, they released their debut single Just Wanna Dance, which has garnered over 50,000 streams, and their first EP — One — dropped a year later.
The duo finally debuted their first album this past October.
“One thing I think that makes this album unique is that it's a little throwback to albums of days gone by where the entire album is like a journey. It's not just a single and then another single. We intentionally crafted the setlist of the album so that it would take you on a bit of a journey,” Allen said.
Combining sincere storytelling with electronic sounds, the duo has made their mark on the Canadian music scene, reaching over 18,000 Spotify monthly listeners.
Hailing from Vernon, British Columbia, Allen said he and McKnight wanted to make their debut album more sophisticated than their previous EP.
“We definitely wanted to elevate the maturity of our sound because the first EP that we released was really fun and bubbly,” he said.
The duo was musically inspired by acts such as Lauv, Lany, the 1975, and Paul Simon’s Graceland“Instead of using a snare drum to provide rhythm, they [Lauv and Lany] use guitar plucks and I find that sonically really pleasing,” he said.
In addition, having spent time in Ethiopia, Australia, Ireland and Scotland, the duo wanted the album to include musical elements from different cultures.
“There's just so much rhythm and different feelings out there that we just don't often put in Canadian and American songwriting because we try to keep it pretty simple,” said Allen “In North American culture, it's always vocal led. In most other countries, it's percussion. And so we were like, ‘let's hammer this with really big drums and percussive elements.’”
On the album’s percussive elements, Allen believes it’s McKnight’s extensive experience as a drummer that helped elevate their sound.
“[McKnight] put in drum fills that he would play naturally live, which I felt changed the dynamic of the album from being just a cool loop underneath to something that sounds like it's played.”
Nevertheless, Allen said that the album is still vocally driven. With how much is going on in each track, the duo wanted to make sure that there was still something guiding the song.
“We just wanted to come up with something that was fun and energetic, and just had a lot of life in it, and maybe bucked some of the trends of typical pop music stylings. We were like ‘let's just throw in 32 back up vocals and see what happens.’ So that's what we did,” he said.
The duo met in Vernon through musical connections when Knight started playing for Allen’s solo shows. They quickly realized their musical chemistry and formed the group.
Andrew Allen posing with Taylor McKnight playfully biting a drumstick. (LMW Photos)
With this being their third release, Allen and McKnight have spent a great deal of time songwriting together. While co-writing Wonderland came with its challenges, Allen said it led to the songs being more universal.
“When you're a singer-songwriter, you can write whatever you want if you're the only one singing it. But with Taylor and I, it has to represent both of us. He's in his early 20s and I'm in my late 30s. So we have different worlds to be drawing from,” he said. “We had to find that meeting place of where our fear is the same and where our love is the same and where our energy and excitement is the same, and try to write from that place.”
Although Lost and Found has been the most popular single with 40,000 streams on Spotify alone, Allen said the most special song to him is It Ain’t Over.
“It feels a little different to me. It just has this depth to it. The whole lyric came out of a stream of consciousness. It felt really honest and genuine,” he said.
The singer-songwriter said the band has been working on an upcoming EP with their former mix engineer. Although the release date is yet to be announced, he said fans can expect it to have more electronic elements to it.
Stream Wonderland below: