NOSOTRÄSH come from Gijón, coastal city that saw the birth of some of the best bands in the independent music explosion in the 90's in Spain, such as MUS, JR or PENELOPE TRIP. Cova played on this last band until 1993, only to form NOSOTRÄSH the next year along with Bea, Natalia, Montse and Eugenia. Shortly after that, Malela would join the band.
In 1995 they won the first prize in the demo contest organized by Rockdelux magazine. On this demo they had already included what would become their first hit, “Voy a aterrizar”. As a result of such triumph they are signed to RCA, but their first recording is on Gijon indie label Astro, where they release their debut CD-single (featuring four songs) in 1996. RCA offers them the recording of an album, but they decide instead to wait until they have a richer repertoire and a stronger live act. In this direction, they play live as much as possible and write new songs, and the fruits start to grow on the differents EPs released on RCA in 1997. The next year, their first full length sees the light of day. On “Nadie hablará de... NOSOTRÄSH” they include tracks as “Mis Muñecas”, “Pálida” or “Sintasol”, as well as a cover version of Serge Gainsbourg's “Poupée de cire, poupée de son” (a hit in the 60's by France Gall), and a song featured in two different versions: in Spanish (“En ningún lugar”) and in their own Asturian language (“Nenyures”).
In 1999 Eugenia leaves the band, and they move to a new record label:from RCA they move to Elefant, where they release in November the “Hacia El Sur”. This single is listed among the most requested records by the customers of the Rough Trade shops in London, and is played in several radio shows on the BBC. In April 2000 the second album comes out, “Mi vida en un fin de semana”, mixed and produced in England by Ian Catt, usual producer with bands such as ST ETIENNE or TREMBLING BLUE STARS. The album climbs to the first places on the best of 2000's polls on magazines like Rockdelux and Mondosonoro. In March 2001 they appear on Madrid's TV show “Alto y claro”, performing their song “El enemigo en casa” ("the enemy at home"). The show was about women, so the chosen track (about violence in the home environment) couldn't be more accurate.
In April 2002 they release their third album, “Popemas”. Short songs that try to escape the strict clichés that rule pop music. Production this time is done by Ibon Errazkin (ex LE MANS and also producer of Ana D and Carlos Berlanga), and the record features collaborations by singer songwriter Nacho Vegas and multiinstrumentalist Guiller Momonje among others. On the other hand, on this new album we don't see Malela, who has left the band. The media receive this new album with an exceptional feedback: in May they're on the cover of the influential Rockdelux magazine, as well as on the music supplements of newspapers like Avui, Diario de Tarragona and Las Provincias. 2002 was undoubtedly the best year in the NOSOTRÄSH career: they became one of the household name in the Spanish independent scene, and got to show the day to day simple emotions using their own language, something that only a chosen few like VAINICA DOBLE or LE MANS had been able to achieve. With their “popems” they wrote a delicious catalogue of little pop miniatures, songs reduced to their minimum expression, usually shorter than two minutes but full of details, risk and sensibility. Besides the critical acclaim, “Popemas” was also voted as the best record of 2002 according to the readers of Rockdelux.“Popemas” was also releaed in Taiwan, via Avant Garden Records. This edition includes as bonus tracks the videoclips for “Arte” and “Gloria”, the two singles taken from the album.
Where "Popemas" managed to move everyone by paying a well deserved tribute to the mother figure, "Cierra la puerta al salir", fourth album by the band from Gijon, is a proud statement, dedicated this time to all those who have new plans to be started soon. They don't have the enemy at home anymore (as on their song “El enemigo en casa"), they have invited him to go away for good, closing the door behind him, as they sing in "Luciérnaga": "the heat will melt my memory and I will write my story again, I'll take you out of the script". On "Dicen", a riddle track for those with a wider imagination, they sing a verse each, one after the other, ending on a chorus which could have been an alternative title for this fantastic record: "te sienta fatal tanto suspirar" ("you look awful when you sigh"). Take a deep breath and go out on the streets, as the girl from the song "Planes de batalla": "it's time for the girl, the time of her life, without being sure about what to keep inside her purse, without being sure about what to remove from her life".Songs like “Completamente sola”, which could be heard in some summer festivals as an advance of this new album, “Dando vueltas” or “Puta conciencia”, in an average pop style, remind of the songs on “Mi vida en un fin de semana”. “Caricias de un púgil” stops us saying “you can't go further from here...”, whilst songs like “Vermú” or "Pez globo" -a beautiful bossanova featuring a guitar cameo from their friend Mar (PAULINE EN LA PLAYA), where they sing another of their poignant lyrics: "maybe you expect something more than a kiss, kisses that turn us into inmortal, invincible, almost imbeciles"- could be the perfect follow up for “Popemas”.
It's not the first time that Spanish pop legends LE MANS and VAINICA DOBLE are mentioned when talking about NOSOTRÄSH, but songs like "Siesta" or "Visita" remind us from their simple titles of those tender home scenes that they perfected so well in "Popemas". On "Visita" they talk about warm clothes, clean sheets and a full fridge, and one feels as if observing a friendly meeting by the fire through the steamy windows. "Siesta", another song which was already known from their live shows, is the ideal collaboration between Nick Drake and VAINICA DOBLE: Xel Pereda's acoustic guitar and the voice of Montse.
After having worked with Ibon Errazkin on their previous album, this time the production duties have been taken by fellow Gijoners Pereda and Pedro Vigil (ex member of Spanish noise pop band PENELOPE TRIP and current leader of EDWIN MOSES and VIGIL). Pedro had already worked with NOSOTRÄSH when they recorded their first EP, and Xel Pereda did the same in the summer of 2003, recording the songs they included on the tribute to FAMILY. Both got deeply involved in the recording, and arranged and played in almost all the songs. The album, recorded pacefully on weekends in Gijon, is a combination of the atmospheres from the two previous records, "Popemas" and "Mi vida en un fin de semana". The lyrical excellence of "Popemas" is enhanced here with luxuriant arrangements including all types of guitars (with and without distorsion, lap steel, slides, mandolines) and keyboards (Hammond, Fender Rhodes, pianos, accordions), and even featuring a surprising yet brilliant collaboration, that with Basque singer songwriter Jabier Muguruza on the intimate "Funambulista". Jabier also plays accordion on several tracks on the album, as the even more surprising "Rancherita", a perfect ending with a southern border accent, spitting rage and despair with the typical joy of the Mexican folklore, an unexpected but terribly rocking appendix for an even more excellent album.
