"The Secret Album Nobody Knew About: Inside Barcelona's Ant Colony"
(Artist Report)
Written by: Run Wylde
Barcelona rock band Ant Colony grew out of the solo project of songwriter Alberto Lozano, from Martorell just outside the city. After releasing his solo album Out There for You to See, Alberto turned the project into a band, bringing in new musicians to write, record and perform live. Today Ant Colony take the stage as five, with Toni Torres, once the band's drummer, now on lead guitar and also producing the band.
Their debut album, Two Days of Thunderstorm and Rain, holds 12 songs and took around a year and a half to shape, from the first acoustic demos to a tracklist that kept changing until the very last minute. The sound is more electric and forceful than Alberto's solo work but keeps its melodic heart, drawing comparisons to Arctic Monkeys' Humbug era and to Oasis, with detours into blues and ska. In October 2026 the band presented the record live at Sala Vol in Barcelona, where backing vocalist Marina joined them for "Dead Before the Dawn", and on Halloween at Cadavra in Madrid.
Speaking directly to Soundwave Music Media, Alberto took the band's name literally. If Ant Colony really were a colony, he said, he would be the queen, though "not a laid-back, sleepy, lazy one". He described himself as the one who keeps everything running, books the gigs and drags everyone into rehearsals, while Toni carries the technical and logistical crumbs as the veteran of the group who knows how to get things done. The ant walking in the wrong direction, according to Alberto, is anyone who hasn't listened to their music yet.
Some details on the record are easy to miss. Alberto told Soundwave Music Media that a family friend from Peru once gave him a small flute that imitates a bird call, although he can no longer remember which bird. It has already found its way onto "Sleepin' Thru the End of Times" and "Begone Now, Ladybird".
Not every song made the final cut. Some of those left behind became B-sides, such as "Won't You Cut It Out" and "Begone Now, Ladybird", while others were written along the way and slipped in at the very end. One track, "I Mastered the Secret of Fire", was deliberately held back. Alberto described it as mysterious and said he felt its time simply hadn't come yet, but that he is looking forward to revisiting it when the moment is right.
His most memorable show wasn't a big one. Playing a solo acoustic set at Barcelona's Guitar Legends Hall, Alberto started out in front of literally nobody and used the moment to play one of his oldest songs, "Wood From a Quercus", a song nobody had heard before and, as he put it, nobody will hear again "for a very long time". The audience only started arriving after that.
Alberto also shared an exclusive he says he has never spoken about outside the studio. During the final months of producing the debut, tired of endless mixing sessions, he began recording a handful of more acoustic, straightforward songs on the side. Those songs, written in the spirit of Bob Dylan, could now become a bonus album called Another Day Under the Sky, which he hopes to release in December or January as "a kind of belated Christmas present".
Beyond that, a concept album has been in the works since 2021. Many of his earliest songs grew out of the idea, but Alberto has kept it locked away for the sake of the band's rock 'n' roll identity, waiting for the day he has enough time, money and peace of mind to finally bring it to life.
His influences reach well beyond rock. Alberto names classic Spanish and Catalan singer-songwriters such as Joan Manuel Serrat, Joaquín Sabina and Lluís Llach, alongside musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Misérables, West Side Story and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as major influences on his songwriting and on the way he understands music.
Asked what he hopes people say on their way home from an Ant Colony show, Alberto kept it simple: that they came for a decent night out and found their new favourite band, "or at least that we were loud enough to give them a headache."
Two Days of Thunderstorm and Rain is out now. Give it a spin and decide for yourself which way you're walking.
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(Sources)
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"The Secret Album Nobody Knew About: Inside Barcelona's Ant Colony"