Atmospheric and pensive, ‘Nostalgia’ by Feliz Final is formed around a recurring emotion that we can all relate to. Coinciding with the EP’s release, Nacho Cobián from the group breaks down the personal elements behind the tracks, as well as the process of replicating a state of mind through music.

Stream: ‘Nostalgia’ – Feliz Final

No matter how hard you try to forget someone, how much you push yourself, or how many times you tell yourself ‘I don’t want to keep thinking about you anymore,’ only time can heal you.

The feeling of nostalgia is like a language of its own, transcending vocabulary and generations.

It touches each and every one of us, sometimes with a sweet sadness and other times with an emotionally draining pain. It stems from relatable moments, whether it be a period of poignant happiness, a sweet relationship with someone, or the yearning to return some place that you weren’t ready to leave. Nostalgia is also blurry and aestheticized. It’s fragments of the past but selective fragments that don’t give the full picture, only what we felt the most. It’s for this reason that the concept and the emotion have a magical quality, vaguely intermingled with the fictional to put us in a dream-like state that tugs at our senses harder.

Nostalgia - Feliz Final — Nostalgia – Feliz Final

The debut EP by Spanish group Feliz Final, titled Nostalgia (released February 28), explores this emotion in all its softness and dreaminess.

Writing on their Instagram prior to the release, the group explained, “Nosotrxs encontramos la nostalgia en ser capaces de mirar al pasado con los ojos del presente. Poder deshacerte de todo el ruido emocional que sentías en ese instante que recuerdas y ser capaz de vivirlo desde el momento en el que estás. Porque en la nostalgia no recuerdas todo lo que había alrededor, tus problemas, tus miedos, tus preocupaciones, solo recuerdas esos instantes que te hace sentir.” Click here for a translation.

In other words, nostalgia is found in the ability to see the past through the eyes of the present and to be able to get rid of all the emotional noise that you were feeling in that moment. In nostalgia, you don’t remember everything that was around you, your problems, your fears, your worries, you only remember those moments that it makes you feel.

Entre tú y yo
Surge el invierno
Solo estamos juntos para evitar la soledad

Nuestra relación
Es un recuerdo
De todos los momentos que empezamos a disfrutar

Puede que hoy
Tenga que aceptar
Que no soy más que tu reflejo

– “Puede que hoy,” Feliz Final

Nostalgia is therefore an EP loaded with atmosphere, the notes of electro bedroom pop, R&B, et jazz whirling together alongside whispery vocals. “Puede que hoy,” which introduces the EP, has a build-up of pace which goes from slow to restless and desperate. Elements from Spanish flamenco music, such as claps, are integrated towards the end, while the lyrics explore the idea of distance and accepting the need to move on. The augmentation of atmosphere throughout is therefore like making sense of ourselves again amongst the noise (emotional and physical) that surrounds us.

In contrast, “Respira”, which concludes the EP, is an instrumental formed of delicate guitar riffs. It’s like resting our heads on our knees and staring at the clouds with a long sigh, emotionally drained and alone but guided by hopefulness and a reassuring sweetness. It follows “Te espero quí / Nostalgia” with its melancholic guitar and wistful vocals. The words ‘Te espero quí’ (‘I wait for you here’) are repeated longingly before disappearing into the haze.

“Olvidarme (de ti)” is powered by electronic elements that give the atmosphere a hint of darkness, as though battling with obstacles in the night. ‘Siento que me pierdo en un recuerdo/ Llorar y empezar de cero/ Trasnochar, murmurar/ Tu nombre en el silencio’ (‘I feel like I’m lost in a memory/ Cry and start from scratch/ Stay up late, murmur/ Your name in the silence’) go the lyrics before telling oneself to forget, forget the person who’s taking over the memories and tugging at the heart.

Based in Madrid, Feliz Final is formed of Blanca Mudel (vocals and guitar), Victor Venturini (lead guitar) Diego González (vocals and guitar) Rafa Jiménez (drums), Nacho Cobián (synth, vocals and bass) and Jacobo Cobián (designated graphic designer). Nostalgia launches the group, which has evolved since the debut single “A que ne sabes por qué” was released in 2021 (notably with the additional of Blanca on vocals).

Having centred their first collection of songs around a concept, it will be intriguing to see where Feliz Final lead us to next. After all, if nostalgia prevents us from moving forward because we’re tangled up in memories and emotions from the past and present, what happens when we finally take control of it? Or is it something that we can’t control, instead continuing to appear in our everyday life, often when we least expect it?

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