Lucrecia Dalt was born in Pereira, Colombia in 1980. She studied civil engineering and worked for two years in a geotechnical company in Medellin before deciding to pursue music.
Her first recordings were released by Columbian collective Series under the name Lucrecia. After meeting Gudrun Gut, she contributed four songs to the 4 Women No Cry compilation released on Monika Enterprise in 2008.
After moving to Europe she released a series of recordings, including a release on Nicolás Jaar's Other People imprint and a series of collaborations with Aaron Dilloway. Among her more recent releases are the albums Anticlines (2018) and No Era Sólida (2020) on RVNG Intl.
Like the whirr of a wake-up call, Lucrecia Dalt’s metallic compositions entice us to rethink the possibilities of materiality and existence. The Colombian musician and sound artist has carved out a place at the contemporary frontiers of avant-garde and electronic music, hardware in hand, to channel age-old questions into a distinct and transgressive musical language.
Perhaps the ability to dig a little deeper is hard-wired into Dalt’s creative process through her background as a geotechnical engineer. Now residing in Berlin, Dalt often seeks inspiration in the worlds of fiction, poetry, geology and desire, excavating nuanced references to untangle and respond to in her music. At times, this exploratory impulse surfaces like an introspective call and response experiment with her source material, forming new perspectives on ideas rooted in Colombian mythology to German New Wave cinema. Dalt’s conceptual blueprints are intimate and intricate, emerging like cyanotypes cast in the sun. Around these frameworks she shapes her sound, using analogue instrumentation, a vast array of synthesizers and the processed glow of her voice.
Dalt joined the RVNG family in 2018 with the release of Anticlines. Interspersed with enigmatic metaphors, the record channels at its core the principle of tectonic plates compressing stratified rock: old material is pushed to the centre and sometimes becomes exposed. Guided by this concern with boundaries and edges, Dalt reframes traditional Latin American rhythms beside visceral tones of electronic composition and fragmented spoken word, tracing new contours in the topography of human consciousness. The poetic lyrics of Anticlines were written collaboratively between Dalt and artist Henry Andersen, and the accompanying artwork was realised by visual artist and ongoing collaborator Regina de Miguel.
With the release of Dalt’s seventh album No era sólida (2020), another world is located in her universe. In an embrace of introspection, Dalt sets out to capture the moment when one becomes pure sound. This transcendent process of creation summons Lia: an apparition of the artist as possessed by mimetic impulses. Language is dissolved into an evocative collection of glossolalia as the record swells with rhythmic tremors and the lunar echoes of a lawless organism tethered to sonic hardware. Navigating through each song as a different state experienced by Lia, the album closes with spoken word reflections on the existence of an unworldly lifeform seeded through sound.
Her sound work has been presented internationally in spaces such as Issue Project Room, Pioneer Works in New York, Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, Museum of Modern Artin Medellín, the Mies van der Rohe pavilion in Barcelona, the New South Walles art gallery in Sydney, among others.
Counting Backwards
Lucrecia Dalt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The days to finally
Be there with you
Could this be true?
And while I'm waiting
I grab a pencil and
Think about you
And all I do is try try try
To write a song of you and I
So you can sing to me at night
To my ear
Don't worry we'll have time time time
I'll fall asleep into your arms
So I can listen to your heart all nights
Lucrecia Dalt's song "Counting Backwards" is a beautiful expression of a love that's both excited and anxious. The lyrics reflect the singer's desire to be with a loved one, but also the uncertainty that comes with it. The song begins with the singer counting backwards, symbolizing the passage of time as she awaits the moment when she can be with her beloved. She asks herself, "Could this be true?" perhaps wondering if the uncertainty she feels is just a mirage.
The waiting seems unbearable, but she finds solace in thinking about her lover and imagining herself there. The singer picks up a pencil and starts to write a song, hoping to capture the essence of their love in music. The song is a declaration of her love for her partner, and her desire to hear them sing to her at night. She assures her lover not to worry, as they will have time, and that she will fall asleep in their arms listening to their heart. The lyrics reflect the singer's deep longing for the loved one, and how they bring her a sense of calm and belonging.
Overall, "Counting Backwards" is a song about love and the hope that comes with it, but also the uncertainty and longing that comes with waiting for it. The lyrics reflect the complexities of relationships and the deep emotions that come with them.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm reversing the sequence
I am going backwards from a certain point.
The days until I can finally
I am counting the number of days until the moment I finally get to do something.
Be there with you
Be in your presence, near you.
Could this be true?
I am questioning whether or not this is real.
And while I'm waiting
During the time I am waiting for this moment to come by,
I grab a pencil and
I pick up a writing tool as a means of expressing my thoughts.
Think about you
I contemplate about you.
With me there too
I imagine myself being with you.
And all I do is try try try
My actions are repetitive as I continue to put all my effort towards something.
To write a song of you and I
I am attempting to create a song that depicts both of us.
So you can sing to me at night
I envision you singing this song to me during nighttime.
To my ear
You would be singing the song for me to hear.
Don't worry we'll have time time time
I am reassuring myself and you that there will be enough time to fulfill our desires.
I'll fall asleep into your arms
In my imagination, I will drift off to sleep in your embrace.
So I can listen to your heart all night
My ears would be able to hear the beat of your heart throughout the entire night.
Writer(s): Lucrecia Dalt
Contributed by Maria V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.