When Spanish indie-pop outfit Melenas were beginning, they didn't have grand plans.

"We didn't have a clue about what was going to happen, and we didn't expect anything," recounts drummer Laura Torre. "Just to play some concerts, maybe, in Pamplona, around in our town."

But from the first songs they ever put online, Melenas' reach far exceed their humble ambitions.

"[Immediately] we had a lot of people listening to us that were not from Spain, that were from other countries," offers guitarist/vocalist Oihana Herrera. "Right at the beginning, [American label] Trouble In Mind Records contacted us, and for us it was like: 'wow, how is this happening'."

Across three LPs —their 2017 self-titled debut, 2020's Dias Raros, and their new album Ahora— the quartet has continued to grow, finding audiences far from Pamplona.

In conversation with Anthony Carew on The International Pop Underground, Herrera, Torre and keyboardist María Zubiaur talk about Melenas' beginnings, their harmony-filled sound, increasing love of synths, and shiny new record.

Feature image: José Delou