Parts of what Inspired Alex’s new song, "La La La"!

Jul 15, 2025

Hey,

I hope you’re well! We had such a huge last week ending up with Alex sharing a new excerpt of our latest creation titled La La La!

Here are some key things and moments that inspired us all in the past 7 days!

🎧 What I’m listening to

Album Visions of Light from the Ishmael Ensemble band.

When we sit down for lunch and dinner at the Fajar Soul Dweller Studio, we always put some music on, related to what we’re actually working on in the studio! It’s a very important ritualistic behavior since it allows us to keep being focused on the music and to have conversations about the artist playing as we’re sitting on the rooftop looking at the beautiful medina surrounding us or looking at the golden coast of Spain that is right in front of us.

At some point last week, Isabel played this band I haven’t listened to in a long time. I discovered them during COVID and had the opportunity to see them live in Austin, Texas, back in March of 2023! Great band and vibes!

📖 Reading highlight I’m pondering

“I’m using myself as a canvas and trying to paint the truth of our time” - Bowie

What a powerful quote from one of the greatest artists who’s ever lived. He’s not only doing something but putting all of his energy into becoming and incarnating one of the things that matters the most: truth.

For me the truth is what sets free!

🎥 Documentary I watched

Where Does a Body End? A Documentary about Swans.

For us, there are a few albums, films, documentaries, or live concerts that we always have to go back to at some point in order to make sure we’re all aligned with the music, with the album, or with the project we’re working on. And this documentary about Swans is always a pure delight.

Since Hugolin joined us to be part of this musical journey, and he had never seen this one before, we kind of had a moral obligation to stop everything we were doing and dive into one of the most important band journeys for us.

Every time we’re watching this, we immediately feel an urge to light up our amps and make some louder noises...!

“I'm always trying to push myself into unfamiliar places with the music, sometimes without success, I have to admit. But I'd rather be there than relying on a style that people recognize and want to follow.” - Michael Gira

📸 My Picture Of The Week

After spending all day and all evening working on this new song Alex just so generously shared with you last Sunday, he and I just went out to the rooftop at around 11pm (23h) and stayed there until very late. It was one of those moments we didn’t want to see ending as the spectacle was simply so perfect, the night was so calm and we had literally given all we had to this incredible new song.

Every time we were visiting Tangier a few years back, we would spend countless hours deep into the night on the rooftop of our guest house. We always felt amazed by how this city is uniquely lit up at night, and by the incredible energy there is to watch this city from above. We would make toasts proclaiming what we would like to see happen for us in this very city, for us musically, for us personally. This was back in 2017.

Last Friday night was a true celebration of all those long nights where everything was falling apart in our own lives, but we decided to press on, to keep believing, and to never allow circumstances or anyone in our surroundings to get in the way. It was a beautiful celebration of life, freedom, and friendship!

Alex made a toast: to Freedom! Since freedom is not about feeling alive, it's the intentionality with which I decide to define who I am, in the terrible and magnificent motions of my days.

💬 Shared in the Long Shadows Chat this week

Following Alex’s incredible Substack post around his father's passing, everyone shared a lot that day in our group chat. It was a beautiful mixture of encouragement toward Alex’s new way of sharing about this, also mixed with great memories about him and how proud he must be to see Alex thriving that way.

An inspiring invitation to live above and beyond and to connect even deeper with the ones we love so much...! Longevity isn’t just about adding years to life, but life to years...!

Since Alex’s father’s passing has been at the epicenter of Alex’ life and creative journey for the past 11 years, this week was no exception, but this time, it was in a completely different manner. All of our conversations and chats were truly fulfilling and kept us as excited and focused on the song we were working on.

Always so beautiful to witness a life being transformed right in front of your eyes!

Let’s be great to one another!

Your friend and chief operator,
Jeff

PS: I wanted to share some funny anecdotes to end this week’s missive, but unfortunately, none of the funny stuff we shared can be added in this mail...! Let’s see what next week brings! :)