Andres Barlesi brings introspective, improvisational guitar sound to solo project 'Atalaya'

Andres Barlesi first picked up a guitar when he was just five years old, was in his first band by the age of 12, and went on to play and tour internationally with the Argentinian indie band Los Alamos. Today the 36-year-old musician from Buenos Aires lives in Berlin and is working on his solo project, “Atalaya.”

Barlesi’s music for Atalaya isn’t confined to particular song structures. When developing a piece of music, Barlesi often starts with an image in his head: “I close my eyes… I just let my fingers go,” he explains. He draws inspiration from the celebrated American guitarists John Fahey and Robbie Basho and their “spiritual, open-tuning” sound.

Barlesi has called Berlin home for five years now. It’s not the cheap rent and beer that drew him to the city, he says, but the “fantasy to go somewhere else.” When not working on Atalaya, Barlesi teaches music to small children, adding the occasional Black Sabbath song to his lesson plan: “They have to learn something cool when they’re starting,” he laughs. 

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll