Esteban Obando – “Montreal (Feeling it All)”
Esteban Obando Finds Warm Lo-Fi Nostalgia on “Montreal (Feeling it All)”
Esteban Obando’s “Montreal (Feeling it All)” is a beautifully intimate lo-fi folk track, one that makes its imperfections feel like part of the emotional language rather than something to hide. Recorded straight to cassette on a 1990s Tascam Portastudio, the song carries the warmth, closeness, and quiet vulnerability of a bedroom recording, but it also has a melodic strength that makes it immediately memorable.
The track works so well because it holds two feelings at once. The melody is catchy and gently uplifting, yet the whole atmosphere carries a soft melancholy that fits perfectly with the song’s sense of memory and distance. Written as a love letter to Montreal, it seems to hold that particular feeling of looking back at a place that shaped you, especially through the cold, reflective mood of a Canadian winter. There is isolation in it, but also comfort, as if the listener is being invited into a small warm room while the world outside feels far away.
The production is lo-fi, but never careless. The guitar tone has a lovely dry intimacy, while the keys and spring reverb add a hazy glow around the vocals. Obando’s double-tracked voice gives the song a soft, human texture, bringing to mind the warmth of early Elliott Smith without feeling like imitation. The faint rough edges, the tape character, and the minimal recording approach all help the track feel honest and lived in.
“Montreal (Feeling it All)” also carries a subtle sense of escapism. Even though the lyrics are rooted in nostalgia, the music opens a space where the listener can drift into their own memories, their own version of a city, a season, or a time that feels unreachable now.
It is a beautiful lo-fi folk release from Esteban Obando, full of cosy atmosphere, thoughtful songwriting, and vocals that feel sincere without forcing the emotion. A simple track on the surface, but one with real warmth and a reason to return.