SLV to Release Debut Album THIS KIND, 5/5

When Sandra Lilia Velásquez embarked on creating new music outside of her critically acclaimed Latin band Pistolera, she had no expectations except to be as experimental as possible. Together with her new songwriting partner Sean Dixon, the drummer for electronic band Zammuto, they created SLV. Their bold step forward into soul, R&B, and electronic music caught the attention of ten-time Grammy nominee and legendary bassist Meshell Ndegeocello. This led to SLV's 2013 debut EP, Dig Deeper, produced by Ndegeocello who plays bass on three songs and co-wrote one. The EP quickly received strong press accolades by NPR, USA Today, and WNYC, and catapulted SLV's place in the neo-electro soul movement. On May 5, 2015, SLV returns with their debut album titled This Kind.

After the success of the EP with Meshell Ndegeocello the pair became really inspired to keep writing and evolving. Both Sandra and Sean were going through major life changes and they channeled it into their songwriting on This Kind. It was a process of self-discovery both personally and musically for the duo.

Prior to SLV, Sandra has always been a sole songwriter, yearning to find the right songwriting partner. In 2010 through a mutual friend (of Pistolera's drummer) fate would have it for Sandra and Sean to meet. Sandra elaborates, "This seemingly random act created an opportunity for collaboration that has since changed my life. I showed Sean these new songs I was working on and we ended up writing together without any discussion, planning, or even acknowledgement that that is what we were doing. Later we realized that we were both similar in our work ethic. We both just wanted to write. I often had the chorus and he had the verse. We started sending demos back and forth. It was during that whole process of working with Meshell that him and I became songwriting partners." Their collaboration was such an unlikely one and different from anything either has done before so it really allowed both artists to be free.

This experimentation and freedom lead to the name of the title, This Kind. Sandra adds, "People always ask about SLV, 'What kind of music is it?' We say, 'It's THIS KIND...' Most artists have trouble labeling their music. But more than any other band I've been in, I have trouble explaining what kind of music ours is. The only way I can comfortably describe it is to say that it is honest and heavy on the vibe."

This Kind was recorded at The Bunker in Williamsburg Brooklyn in June of 2014. Sandra laid down scratch vocals but finished the vocals in her Brooklyn apartment inside of a vocal booth she built out of PVC pipe and soundproof packing blankets. The album was produced by SLV and drew from a great pool of talent for completion. Jordan Scannella from the international touring electronic dance music group Tortured Soul, played bass on the entire album, while Nick Zammuto, of the electronic experimental band Zammuto, which was just the first signed band to Australian Pop Star Gotye's new Spirit Level label, mixed and mastered the release.

Sandra concludes, "One of the things I learned from Meshell was to follow your musical instincts. It's not something she told me outright, it's something I observed her do. And I'm proud of where following the sounds in my head has taken me. I like that I can listen to the SLV album and genuinely enjoy it. It feels real and honest."

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