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Mi Casa: The album inspired by a near breakup

Cape Town - Six months ago local band Mi Casa was ready to call it quits, but instead of breaking up, J'Something Dr Duda and Mo-T bounced back with their fourth studio album, Familia.  

The near breakup is what inspired their latest album, J'Something explains: "Familia means family [in Spanish] and over the six years that we've been together we've become a very typical Family."

"A family that is great together, a family that fights and a family that loves. And that is why we specifically named the album Familia." 

As many fans know the band reached a pivotal moment earlier this year, when they had to reconsider the future of the group: "When you look at families, a lot of them are either still together or they are broken up. We went though that exact phase six months ago, where we were either going to be together or we were going to break up."

As to what brought on the near breakup the band says, "It's very weird to explain, but as band we were hopeless. We really thought that it was the end. When you start going through the motions it becomes redundant, and that was some of the problems we were facing." 

And lucky for our eardrums, the three musos decided to stick together, because that's what families do.

Mi Casa

"We decided to fight for Mi Casa. Because we love what we do. We were not going to be part of the bad statistics, we were going to be part of the good statistics. The people who fight for what they love. The people who stick together."

Talking about the particular sound we can expect from the album, Dr Duda says: "The sound is very upbeat and vibey, with elements of Brazilian music. Familia is also slang for "unit" and the album is very accommodating to everyone, whether young or old."

When asked to single out a song or lyric that really stuck with the group, it was clearly a very difficult request. As all three members agreed that there were no "stand out" tracks. Only music that they "love."

Duda affectionately calls the songs on the album his, "babies."

"I could have answered that question on a previous album," says J'Somehting, "Because on the previous albums we were making albums. We wanted an album to vary and wanted each song to have its own space. But here [Familia], each song was birthed from the same moment."

Mo-T then talks about the emotions the group experienced during the making of the album, and says, "This is definitely the most emotional album we've made so far. Some people would expect a sad album, based on the fact that we almost broke up, but we wanted the celebrate each other. It's a happy album."

J' Something adds, "Duda said in Kenya, and it really stuck with me, the album sounds exactly like the space we were in. You cant remove a song. The album sounds happy. To single out something specific is very hard."

Mi Casa

Talking about the first track off the album, Nana, J'Something says: "The reason we chose Nana as the first song, wasn't because we thought it was the biggest hit. The song is about forgiveness. And we had to do a lot of forgiveness to one another." 

And that theme carries out through the album, the group expresses: "Famalia is about us. Fight for what you love, giving up is not an option. There is always a way to fix it. Because it is becoming so easy now a days just to give up. But sometimes God puts you in a position for a reason."

To their fans Mi Casa says thank you for always having their back, and for threatening to slap them silly if they ever broke up. 

When asked if this will be their last album, the group replies, "Never! Not the last one, as long as we're alive. We're just starting out again. Doing what we love."

(Photos: Gallo)

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