Robert Sotelo

The idiosyncratic, keyboard-based psychedelic pop of indie singer/songwriter Robert Sotelo tips its hat to the melodicism of <a href="spotify:artist:6spXkXEP6teMn2cu9sWbBR">Ray Davies</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4STHEaNw4mPZ2tzheohgXB">Paul McCartney</a> while maintaining a working-class, social-media-engaged point of view. Layering his own instrumental performances, he made his full-length debut with Cusp in 2017. Collaborative albums like 2019's Infinite Sprawling and 2021's marriage-informed Celebrant shared its playful, homespun demeanor.

Born and raised in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, U.K. musician Andrew Doig began recording his '60s-inspired songs under the alias Robert Sotelo (his middle name and mother's maiden name) while in his mid-thirties as a way to connect to people from his past. Recorded with bassist Gemma Fleet and drummer/guitarist John Wilson and calling themselves the Robert Sotelo Group, the EP Keepers appeared in 2016.

A year later, Sotelo emerged with a more densely arranged solo effort recorded and mixed by John Hannon (<a href="spotify:artist:0v3A74qYtkL8Wjj1rzLe9Z">James Blackshaw</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:505B2oTMgspDZs0OUjBCOP">the Plan</a>). Titled Cusp, the full-length was issued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Upset+the+Rhythm%22">Upset the Rhythm</a>. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Nicely+Music%22">Nicely Music</a> released the follow-up, 2018's Botanical, which was also made with Hannon. After relocating to Glasgow, Sotelo returned to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Upset+the+Rhythm%22">Upset the Rhythm</a> for 2019's Infinite Sprawling. It was recorded with Ruari MacLean (<a href="spotify:artist:36zsi8uWbg4dguyJdkKVqL">Vital Idles</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0x0D2iUnMLaqFfbq0Dum9s">Golden Grrrls</a>) and Edwin Stevens (<a href="spotify:artist:7kVrIfAjhJ1kNpx8lKDzzb">Irma Vep</a>, Yerba Mansa) at their home studio. The solo effort Leap & Bounce had already been "recorded in a cupboard" followed on Cusp Records in April 2021. It was quickly followed by Infinite Sprawling came out, and followed it in April 2021. Featuring guests on brass, woodwinds, and drums, his fifth album, the more expansive Celebrant, mixed the joy of wedlock with the trepidation of a global pandemic. It arrived on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Upset+the+Rhythm%22">Upset the Rhythm</a> in November of 2021. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi