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Alfon Woods is a musician we’ve been keeping our eyes on for a while now! IAAS reviewed his debut single, Ibrahim, earlier this year, and we were honored to be asked to review his next release, Boundaries. With just two singles out of the gate, his thematic and musical range was more than intriguing: Ibrahim was a stripped-back political requiem, whilst Boundaries is an introspective thesis on the self. Naturally, we jumped at the opportunity to interview this up-and-coming artist and uncover more about his past and future musical trajectory.

We’ve been supremely pleased to learn from this interview that Woods is a craftsman who imbues his music with striking intentionality. If you’re an aspiring artist yourself, read on for some truly insightful nuggets of inspiration!

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IAAS Music: Good day, Alfon! Thanks for taking the time to chat and share about your music with us! To start off, might you introduce yourself to our dear readers?

Alfon: Of course! I’m Alfon Woods, a singer-songwriter from Spain who makes pop, folk, and rock in English. While people might tell you I’m a bright and optimistic person, my songs are my safe space to be dramatic and build entire worlds with three-act plays. After years of perfecting my craft and working behind the scenes with other artists, I debuted earlier this year with Ibrahim, a standalone charity single against war (listen on Spotify or Bandcamp). Today, I’m releasing Boundaries, and I couldn’t be happier to be interviewed here on IAAS! It’s a song about feeling everyone else is ahead of you, and the introduction to the protagonist of my upcoming first body of work.

How exciting! Your artistic ambition shines true from the scope of your past and future works!

We’ve noticed that  Ibrahim and Boundaries differ starkly on all fronts, whether it’s style, instrumentation, or themes. Might we inquire as to the underpinning intent? To list some possibilities, is this an early creative searching, experimenting to find a voice, displaying artistic range, or acting on one's most salient musical impulse at the current moment?

I could lie and say that Boundaries’ intricate production is a response to the feedback I received about Ibrahim, since many listeners pointed out that the music surrounding the story was too stripped-back for their liking – but the truth is, Ibrahim is the odd one out.

Boundaries came first, and it is a better representation of my style. I like a good climax, a wall of sound, a loud crash... That’s why I let my songs cook for longer than I’d like to admit. With Ibrahim, I couldn’t afford that. It was a “speak now or forever hold your peace” situation. Nevertheless, I can’t deny that the contrast provides this new single with a good selling point for those who felt bittersweet about its predecessor.

Wow, it takes a certain artistic maturity and adaptability to recognise when you ought to handle the release of your various records differently. Yet, despite all their disparities, both releases share an intimacy that comes with their subject matters. What's the conceptualisation process when it comes to your compositions? Is this inclination to dig into oneself the most naturally intuitive one, or is it a disciplined, difficult effort you're committing to your art?

I appreciate that! It was incredibly moving to look back at the lyrics of Ibrahim and realize that, despite being the first song I wrote that was not about myself, it could still fit in my songwriting universe… There’s this general theme based around waiting. Waiting for the future to come and change things for you.

To find the why of my intimate songwriting, which is definitely part of my default modus operandi, I’d probably have to link it to how emotional and logical I am at the same time. I need my feelings to make sense to me and, unfortunately, to others, which is hard given how disproportionate they are. I will be fine with a punch and obsess over a pinch. However, there’s one lesson I had to learn to polish my lyrics: laying down the weapon. The early versions of my songs were cheeky and defensive. That can work for a punk album, but the music beneath those lines was asking for something different.

It’s admirable that you’ve already made the conscious decision to do away with the curtains in favor of earnest and candid sincerity so early in your journey as a recently-debuted artist!

It’s equally impressive to us that you’re not just a singer-songwriter, but a producer and mixer-masterer too! Does your creative process manifest differently in each role, and how do you leverage your expertise on these multiple fronts to craft a cohesive final product?

As a concept album lover, writing is exciting, even energizing. Rather than a role to assume, it’s a need, even if I do it sporadically. On the other hand, you’re watching me try to produce music on a professional level in real time. I’ve been producing for longer than I’ve been writing. Yet, I can’t envision a day when being a one-man band is easy! To finish Boundaries and give it a proper string arrangement, I challenged myself to write three melodic lines (violin, viola, and cello) that actually interacted with each other, and I can’t even play those instruments. Luckily, it was extremely fulfilling. I can’t say the same about mixing and mastering, though. That’s just me pressing buttons.

Then, why not hire someone else and focus on writing? Well, I’ve tried, and that’s how I realized that my ambition and artistic vision do, indeed, bleed into every step of the process. My aim with my current music is not to create something groovy, punchy, or scandalous; it’s to make something beautiful. That’s not something you can ask a producer or audio engineer to do unless you’re a perfect creative match, even if you disguise it under more technical terms. It’s too abstract.

It makes sense – at the end of the day, no one understands your vision better than you do, and no one’s in a better position to execute it. One’s diversity of talents would prove crucial in this regard.

The past few questions have explored the boundaries of your creative intent, so let's get right to the meat of it: your core theses. For instance, your debut, brahim, could be described as harboring some social commentary. When it comes to your own creative voice, does such commentary assume the core of what a piece communicates, or is it more so a naturally occurring byproduct of the diverse emotional landscapes you choose to explore?

That’s actually a perfect way to articulate a distinction I like to make when discussing socially relevant songs by other artists! Ibrahim is the prime example of message-first. I wanted to write a protest song, and the love story I imagined was merely a vehicle that allowed both me and my listeners to bypass the desensitization that comes with reducing human deaths to numbers, even if one or two snapshots in the lyrics channel memories of mine.

However, there are two songs on my upcoming project, which is quite autobiographical, where my experiences and emotions just happen to be attached to systemic flaws. I’m still looking inwards, even when facing discrimination and those who perpetuate it. Those are perfect examples of pieces with social implications rather than social commentary.

Mmm, a tactful, complementary approach. It’ll serve you well, especially with the breadth of ideas and topics your future works will juggle and tackle.

Which brings us to our final question for today: With such diversity from your first two releases already, what does the trajectory for the rest of your musical journey look like?

Well, unfortunately, the biggest contrast is yet to come. In fact, it will be between Boundaries and the very next single. My project is very diverse in its first half, and ultimately transitions towards something actually cohesive. I tie my songs together through narrative rather than genre.

As a newcomer, I fear that some people will interpret my single run as me figuring out which genres perform best when, actually, it’s simply a result of the early creative experimentation you mentioned before. Still, it’s a risk I decided to take in order to prioritize the chronological order of my story. My intention is to deliver it page by page, like episodes from a soap opera. Time will tell if it’ll be able to hook people, but I have to take advantage of not being under a record label contract and being able to pursue my craziest ambitions!

Awesome, we look forward to what you have in store! Thank you so much for your thoughtful and detailed responses, and congratulations on your newest release!

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If there’s one thing this interview has made clear to us, it’s that Alfon Woods is a promising, artistically authentic musician to watch out for. Covering his newest release was a blast, and we hope this article might convince you to give Woods’ discography a listen on Spotify or SoundCloud, or perhaps even check out his purchasable records over on Bandcamp!

You can also keep up with Alfon Woods on Instagram and TikTok. If you’d like to know more about his most recent single, you can read our review of Boundaries right over here!