“I met Chucho when we were 16, and since that moment we started making music,” Mosqueda tells me about Báez, whom Mosqueda calls by his nickname, a common term of endearment in Mexico. “So we are old mates, and we have a lot of years doing this beautiful thing.”
Besides Astronomía Interior, Báez and Mosqueda are members of the Grammy- and Latin Grammy Award-winning Mexican psychedelic rock band Zoé; a group that’s been steadily putting out new music and racking up accolades since it was formed in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in 1994. But in 2022, the duo decided to start a side project together. It was a chance for them to explore other musical genres like electronica, techno, and pop.
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They are in separate studios in Mexico City, presumably working on their upcoming album, from which they have released a slew of singles this past year, including “Mar Universal,” “Siento La Noche (Hale-Bopp, 1997),” “Significados,” and most recently, “Abril.”
Growing up in Mexico City and influenced by his father, Mosqueda got into music at an early age and started playing in bands around Cuernavaca, eventually landing in Zoé as the band’s permanent bass player. Báez wrote his first piano composition at 15 and in 2001 joined his friend as keyboardist for the group. While being part of what many consider to be one of Mexico’s most important bands, Mosqueda and Báez have found a creative freedom in their other musical venture, Astronomía Interior, that they weren’t necessarily getting from Zoé; and that, to them, is essential in their continual push to reach new levels of musical evolution.
“With Zoé, we had around 25 years together,” Báez says. “I think it’s quite natural to want to explore different things, right? Mainly, the reason that Ángel and I decided—because of this break we had with Zoé—to work on [Astronomía Interior], is because we never stop composing songs. So, we had a bunch of songs that didn’t fit in the Zoé pile. So we decided to work on [those] songs. Ángel and I, since we’ve been young, we sing, we write, we play many instruments. So this Astronomía Interior project has become a really fun place to explore things that we cannot explore when you are in a band configuration.”
If you listen to Astronomía Interior, it’s evident just how different their music sounds compared to the guitar-driven rock sensibilities of Zoé; a kaleidoscope of synth-pop flavors with lyrics that focus on identity, love, and spirituality. The duo released their first song, “Un Día Especial” in 2022 and in January 2023, their eponymous debut album was praised for its sonic innovation and originality. “For us, music is freedom and once you’re in a band, you have a role,” Mosqueda says. “Chucho and me, we can do whatever we want. Chucho can make the baselines…I can sing, Chucho can sing, he can play keyboard. I can play keyboard. So it’s totally a different dynamic.”
“Abril” is an example of the new levels of creativity that Astronomía Interior has given to Báez and Mosqueda. While the song is simple in its composition, Mosqueda tells me, it also has a very experimental side, a mix of acoustic and electronica flavors. I ask about the song’s meaning since the lyrics are all in Spanish, but Mosqueda shies away from giving me a definitive answer because it’s not meant to have one, he says. It’s up to the listener to take away their own interpretation. “It has a lot of metaphors…,” he tells me. “There is not an exact line that you can follow. All the lyrics can be understood or interpreted as anyone wants. Every person is going to feel different because every person has lived different things. So we don’t pretend to tell exactly what it is about.”
Mosqueda’s and Báez’s work in Astronomía Interior isn’t just about freedom of expression and creativity for themselves beyond the confines of Zoé; it’s about allowing their listeners the freedom to interpret their songs however they wish. It’s an experience between the real and the surreal.
“We think music is one of the most impressive art expressions we have,” says Mosqueda. “For us, the magic is to keep you in your mindset and think whatever you want about these songs. Of course, there’s aesthetics, there is musicality, there is poetry. All these elements are always surrounding our songs. So we leave it to you.”
The duo’s new album, Mosqueda says, is due out in March. “I can tell you that we’re very happy with this new album,” he says. “We’re putting more flavors into the songs, and you’re going to listen to more different styles. We are surrounded by magnificent collaborators that are helping us all the time with the music and who are supporting us with many things in terms of production, in terms of composition, arrangements, mixing. So it’s a different environment, and we’re very happy.”
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