12. Spain – Blue Moods Of Spain

I was turned onto this by Rick Rubin. When we were writing White Pony I met with him to talk about him producing it, and he played me this record. I don’t know why he played it for me, but I instantly fell in love with it. It’s very soothing, super slow, a similar vibe to the Bohren or Sade, it’s below mid-tempo, it’s very slick, very warm. The lyrics are very simple but the vocals are right in your face, and under that the music really gets to breathe. The chord progressions sound really 1950s, those slow 50s picking patterns, the chord sequences are really simple, it’s very honest, it’s very pure.