The Lanzarote guitarist and composer Lucas de Mulder releases on the American label Color Red his new single, Frontman, the first preview of his second album, New Land. After placing his debut, Feel the Spirit, on the Billboard charts (USA) in 2023—No. 3 on 'Contemporary Jazz Albums' and No. 5 on 'Jazz Albums'—de Mulder moves slightly away from jazz sounds and takes a neo-psych/soul turn in trio format—organic and electronic drums, guitars treated with pedals, and a spatial atmosphere—in a new work that he will present live on December 12 at Café Berlín (Costanilla de los Ángeles, 20) in Madrid.
With 44,000 monthly listeners and more than 2.5 million plays on Spotify -very respectable figures for an instrumental guitar project in the soul-jazz/funk circuit-, de Mulder bases "Frontman" on a contained rhythmic pulse and an elastic bass, where the guitar, between textures and effects, traces phrases of few notes and long journey. The result connects with contemporary references such as Khruangbin, Hermanos Gutiérrez, Surprise Chef and Menahan Street Band, with the spirit of Tommy Guerrero in the background.
This single sets the course for New Land, an eight-piece album set to be released on December 11. Recorded with Diego Portugal (bass) and Joe Sturges (drums), the project retains the groove of the debut and opens windows to pop, folk, and ambient, with an aesthetic that favors air, dynamics, and economy of resources over the layering of sounds, according to the artist.
The new album is now available for pre-save on Spotify and can be heard on all platforms. “‘New Land’ is important to me; it gives the album its name because it connects me with my past and with my immediate future,” de Mulder summarizes.
The album is released by Color Red, the label driven by Eddie Roberts (The New Mastersounds), with whom de Mulder maintains a bond forged between Madrid and Denver and consolidated in the studio with musicians from his circle.
The presentation of New Land will arrive on December 12 at Café Berlín in Madrid, a benchmark venue for its jazz, soul, and funk programming. In a trio format (guitar, bass, and drums), de Mulder will premiere the repertoire of his new album—with "Frontman" as a key piece—and revisit previous songs with new arrangements, emphasizing the dynamics, the space between notes, and the palette of guitars with pedals and organic-electronic drums that define this stage. Tickets are now on sale through the following link.
The house as instrument
Instead of holing up in a large studio, Lucas de Mulder moved a mobile studio to his family home in Fuentes de Béjar (Salamanca) and turned the place into a creative residence. It wasn't a circumstantial resource, but an aesthetic decision: to work with silence, air, and natural acoustics so that the space would resonate within the music. "I always fantasized about recording in that house; I was clear that this music had to be made there," he summarizes.
There, the trio format found its ideal setting: fewer layers, more dynamics; space between notes and a guitar that breathes with the environment. De Mulder sought organic textures, details of the real environment, and that sense of proximity that cannot be manufactured with plugins. "I wanted the air between notes to be heard; there the guitar breathes differently," he explains.
The result is not a 'home recording': it's a sound manifesto. The 'on location' choice imprints identity on the project and coherence to the shift of “New Land”: contained music, with the Castilian landscape hinted at in the timbre and a personal story that anchors the album in its own place and time.
Connection with Eddie Roberts
For a decade, Lucas de Mulder has been the curator of the Acid Jam at El Intruso (Madrid), a session that hosts around fifty musicians each month. One of those nights, he met Eddie Roberts (The New Mastersounds), who was touring Spain with the band Matador! Soul Sounds. The connection was immediate: they spoke the same language of deep funk and shared a devotion to the school of Grant Green.
A few weeks later, de Mulder sent a demo and the invitation arrived: to record at Color Red Studios (Denver). The sessions—with Joe Tatton (keyboards) and Simon Allen (drums) from The New Mastersounds, and Nate Edgar (bass, The Nth Power)—crystallized into his debut “Feel the Spirit” under the production of Roberts himself.
Since then, Madrid and Denver have been connected: that first album entered Billboard, introduced Lucas to the Color Red ecosystem, and opened the door to the new cycle led today by "Frontman" and the album "New Land." A story of pure jam: from a Madrid bar to a Denver label and, from there, to the charts in the United States.
"Lucas de Mulder is currently one of my favorite guitarists; a tremendous guitarist," in the words of Roberts himself.
From the Conservatory to the Groove
Lucas De Mulder (Lanzarote; based in Madrid since 2008) is a guitarist and composer with classical training and a funk-soul pulse. His music—instrumental, melodic, and without filler—naturally blends funk, soul, jazz, and pop, seeking groove, air, and economy of resources. His influences include Grant Green, Ernest Ranglin, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Pat Martino, Gábor Szabó, Charlie Hunter, David T. Walker, and John Scofield.
He began playing guitar at the age of seven at the Insular Conservatory of Music of Lanzarote. At 17, he moved to Madrid to continue at the Adolfo Salazar Professional Conservatory and, later, at the Royal Superior Conservatory of Music of Madrid, where he graduated in 2014. Since then, he has developed an intense activity in the studio and live with projects from the Madrid scene.
A community curator as well as an instrumentalist, he has spent a decade directing the Acid Jam at El Intruso (Madrid). His debut as 'bandleader', "Feel the Spirit", was recorded in Color Red (Denver), produced by Eddie Roberts (The New Mastersounds) and featuring Joe Tatton and Simon Allen (NMS) and Nate Edgar (The Nth Power). The label presented him as a guitarist destined to carry the torch of deep-funk and boogaloo.
He has worked live and in the studio with Beat Bronco Organ Trio (Rocafort Records), The Sweet Vandals, María Yfeu (Virgin), Bambikina (Mad Moon Music), Mighty Vamp, Quique Gómez & His Vipers, Sabrosa (Beastie Boys Instrumental Music), and Eunice (Nina Simone Tribute), in addition to collaborating with Chip Wickham (Lovemonk), Martha High (longtime backup singer for James Brown), Tia Carroll, and Lucky Brown (Tramp Records).
He has also performed at festivals such as Saint Paul Soul Jazz (France), Sziget (Budapest), Holy Groove (Lausanne), WOMAD (Canary Islands), Madtown Days, Madrid es Negro, Sound Isidro, Enclave de Agua, Coop Festival, Miaqué Fest, and the jazz festivals of Sanlúcar, León, and Madrid, among others.