Molina Speaks: I Got a Million Stories to Tell, This is But One
by Tim Wenger
Local artist Adrian Molina, perhaps better known as Molina Speaks, is preparing to release his new project Everyday Denver. The work will be released as a seven-song EP, recorded in one take on April 30 at Late Night Studios. The project will be released in late May.
The tracks feature beats from Mikey Fresh of hip hop group Soul City. “I like his motivation and his vision, I think he represents the future of Denver hip hop,” says Molina. “Really cool, down to earth dude who understands music well.”
“I’ve been thinking about this project for several years,” Molina says. “It has looked different ways in my mind. It kind of came to me this spring that this is the time to do it. The concept is ‘Every Day Denver Watching Clouds Change Seasons.’ Each of the seven tracks are represented by one of those seven words.”
Trumpeter Randy Runyan will be featured on each track, and will join Molina as often as possible for live performances. “I plan to perform the entire EP as a set, with him,” says Molina. “It’s kind of like a time capsule. It’s trying to capture what Denver has been, what Denver is, but also all of the changes that are happening. I’m trying to look at that with a critical eye, but ultimately as a celebration of what the city is and what it is becoming.”
Every Day Denver will be available online as well as on physical cd following its release. “I still feel like that’s valuable and meaningful,” says Molina. “Something I want to do with the project is take some days in late May, early-mid June and just show up at random places, whether it’s a street corner, an arts institution, to perform this Everyday Denver project.”
This new recording hopes to serve as musical graffiti, of sorts, of Denver as it is today. Molina’s last album, Greatest Rapper Never Heard, featured references to the history of Denver hip hop on the tracks ‘Colorado Hip-Hop Part 1” and “Colorado Hip-Hop Part 2.” He hopes to do something similar with this new project, but giving the shout outs to Denver as a whole. “All of these different references were kind of woven together to tell a story,” says Molina. “I’m working with kind of a similar concept with this Every Day Denver project. I want a lot of our local businesses, restaurants, cafes, bars, just the different things that people like. The different things that people enjoy and make the city interesting, I want those things kind of interwoven into the project. Using different places and streets as metaphor to tell a more poetic narrative. It’s like a time capsule. Ten years from now when it’s like ‘Denver has changed!’ this will be like a carving in stone on a city wall.”
Look for Molina to be out and about town a bit more with the changing of the seasons. “I plan to perform a lot more in the fall,” says Molina. “For the last year I’ve just been trying to create a lot of new music, write a lot, produce a lot of material and be a little bit more in the lab, so to speak. I’m doing a lot of arts education work and a lot of performances that are specific to an event or an arts institution or a school. I plan to do more in terms of the entertainment scene in the fall with these new projects.”
Online: theartistlens.com, molinaspeaks.com
Category: Local News
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