The Dreamy World of Natural Wonder Beauty Concept
Colored with tenderness and intimacy, Natural Wonder Beauty Concept hosts tender self-reflection reminiscent of the inexplicable feeling of companionship one may experience in absolute solitude. Dreamy almost feels too simple a word for it. Think of how the world sounds underwater, what it may feel like to fly, or more realistically, what it's like when you're up late and think you're alone until you look outside the window to see one other quietly lit apartment in the building across the street.
So you met in 2020... before that you were internet friends. How'd you first discover each other?
ANA ROXANNE— Well yes, we were internet friends, but also have a lot of mutual friends. I was listening to his album that he released in 2020, but we didn’t meet until I finally moved to New York that winter.
How'd you both get into making music?
BRIAN PIÑERO— I was in bands when I was really young, then I started making electronic music in high school… noise music and such. I've always really liked DIY-style music.
AR— I started in a more academic, structured way. When I was in middle school, I was involved in musical theater and choir, then I went to jazz school for college and dropped out. After that, I finished in a more experimental program and played in some bands through my twenties. I started the solo project maybe seven years ago. It's been a winding road, now here I am.
When did you realize you wanted to work on this project together?
AR— We started working together kind of spontaneously. There was a random project that Brian wanted me to contribute to, and through that, we started messing around in the studio. Eventually, it became more formal and then Mexican Summer got interested and approached us to share what we were doing.
What was the creative process like?
BP— I mean, it has to hit when you're driving at night, that was kind of the thing. A big part of the process was doing things that we normally don't do so we experimented a lot and tried to lean into things that we thought sounded good without really overthinking it too much. It was a lot of fun to try out different styles and tap into this feeling of freedom within music. We talked about life a lot and that honestly formed our bond as collaborators. We became really comfortable with each other and are now really close friends.
AR— We took a lot of turns listening to music and sharing our ideas like, 'Oh, we feel inspired by this song, let's try to do something similar to this.' It was definitely a trade off. Sometimes Brian would come up with a melody or I would come up with an idea for the rhythmic element.
BP— We started every song differently as well. Sometimes it would be an instrumental or a lyric. Other times we would write out vocal melodies before writing lyrics. Anna is really particular with the sound a word has while being sung. She’d be like, 'Oh no, this has to be like an oh, this can’t be an ah.' It was actually pretty meticulous. Some songs were quicker, others took much longer to work through.
That sounds difficult, especially when working with sounds that aren't easily described. It’s easy to say, “I want this chord” but it’s a bit harder to understand when someone says 'I want this twinkly thing, not exactly that twinkly thing.'
BP— We would literally google 'twinkly sound' or 'glittery sound,' and then sample it. It’s easier than one might think! But it was also just a lot of experimenting and sticking to things that spoke to us.
Are you going to bring any of this experimentation into your future solo projects?
BP— Collaborating with Ana is its own thing, but being able to write more immediate and traditionally structured music is something that I would like to do. Maybe singing.
AR— With writing, we really identified each other’s strength, which are very different, so we were able to put them together. There will definitely be some stuff that I take with me into my solo project, but I’m not even really sure, because I’m still processing all of that.
It took two years — Brian, this is the longest you've ever worked on a record, and Ana, the shortest for you. How was it meeting in the middle?
AR— I’m definitely a perfectionist; it takes me a really long time to decide if something is good or not. Maybe I was slowed down the process at some point, but it was also an exercise to feel confident in making decisions quicker than usual.
BP— Having someone slow you down and be like, “No, this can be different and better,” was nice. I usually just write records suprer fast and when it's done, I don't really want to think about it anymore. This has taught made that laboring over stuff is very satisfying actually.
Was there a track that was easiest to produce?
BP— The fourth one was the easiest for sure.
AR— The interlude. It was playful and just so funny to write it. I remember laughing because of how fun it was. A good number of the songs came together pretty quickly, at least with the initial structure and idea, but the fine-tuning took a long timeBut when me and Brian write together, there are a lot ideas that flow pretty easily.
Maybe this question is annoying, but do you have a favorite track?
AR— For me, it changes, or it has changed. Right now, I really like the first and the last. You know, bookends. But they're all unique, they're all very specific and necessary to the entire experience.
BP— I kinda just like all of them. A lot, to be honest [laughs].
