Or Sobre Blau

Andreu G. Serra and Kiran Leonard met in Lisbon nine years ago, arriving within weeks of each other. Living in a crumbling warehouse in Alto São João, they recorded improvisations that became The Piri Piri Samplers: Serra's abrasive, tape-warped guitar colliding with Leonard's stark, pedal-free counterpoint. They played one show, left that summer, and spent nearly a decade apart. When Stroom reissued The Piri Piri Samplers in 2024, they suggested a new record. Long-distance recording collapsed, but the near-failure sparked something: Leonard travelled to Catalonia to restart in person, Serra soon moved to South London, and they began meeting weekly. The result is Making Friends, built over six months. Where the Samplers drew from raw improvisation, Making Friends transforms fragments into fully realised songs — nylon and steel-string guitars, piano, drums, bells, samplers and more. For the first time, they sing together in their own languages — Catalan and English — sometimes translating in real time. Musically, it carries the jagged dissonance and free-blues spirit of their earlier work while opening toward emo, blown-out noise and fractured chamber pop. Guests include the musicians' mothers — Rachel Leonard and Antonia Serra — and poet Pete Simonelli on one of two sprawling centrepieces. Making Friends is about distance, reunion, family, and the stubborn need to make music together — ending with "molta il.lusió per lo que pugue vindre": much excitement for what may come.