Tiago Sousa & João Correia
Insónia LP

(ilustração de Pedro Lourenço)

To be released on 16th November.
4th December - Presentation show at Galeria Zé Dos Bois.

Pre-listen; http://www.hummingconch.net/releases/conch-005-tiago-sousa-joao-correia-insonia
Pre-orders; orders (at) tiagosousa (dot) org

.. As founder and main operator of the Merzbau label (pioneering netlabel in Portugal, home to some of the most solid and consequential new names in the portuguese scene, such as Lobster, B Fachada, Noiserv, Frango or Walter Benjamin) Tiago Sousa had always shown an attention to novelty and an healthy disregard for genres or for playing it safe. Merzbau came to an end, earlier this year, having fulfilled its mission and its destiny, with some of it's front runners attaining considerable attention and even success in the portuguese scene.

Come 2009. Merzbau has reached its end with a feeling of mission accomplished. Tiago Sousa, in the meantime, had assumed a surprising solo career, with the release of Crepúsculo, Noite/Nuit and The Western Lands. Surprising because, and despite the broad aesthetics he revealed as an editor, nothing in that aspect of his life hinted at the direction its own music would take. Far from the indie pop precepts of Noiserv, B Fachada, Jesus The Misunderstood or Mariana Ricardo, and equally distant from Frango's overt experimentalism or the muscled noise rock of Lobster or Lemur, Tiago's music took as reference contemporary classical music, though assuming a creative method clearly owing to the ingenuity, simplicity and spontaneity of improvisation. The emotive and restrained melodies he sketched on those records, mainly coming out of his piano, evoke not as much his inside knowledge and living of the highly remarkable last 5 years in portuguese indie or experimental music, but more so his discovery of luminaries such as Erik Satie, Terry Riley, Robbie Basho or Olivier Messiaen, as well as his readings of most of the Beat Generation masters, the political testimonies of H.D. Thoreau and the Situationists or the distant Eastern Philosophy.

So here we are, on the verge of Insónia, Tiago's fourth record, released by Humming Conch. An album which is almost exclusively fed by the piano, with drums and even some clarinet popping out every now and then, courtesy of guest musicians João Correia and Ricardo Ribeiro. Insónia, recorded in the beginning of the year by american sound-engineer and university teacher Geoffrey Mulder, and mastered by the renowned Taylor Deupree, who runs the 12rec label and has worked with John Zorn, amongst many others, is, simultaneously, the record that one anticipated from Tiago (or which awaited Tiago), but also a surprising effort. It is, on one side, a certain pinnacle of the work Tiago had been developing, but it's surprise lies in the fact that, in a way, nothing had anticipated such an accomplished and emotionally-charged record. The steadiness of its markedly impressionistic meanderings, echoing Debussy or Chopin, and the savoir-faire with which it turns simple and small melodies into crafty hymns of spirituality and meditation, show that this is a nocturnal record, no doubt about that, but also reveal a morning splendor and vigor which materialize on the unstoppable and unresistant propelling of tracks like Passos, and hinted at on the several movements of the chosen single Folha Caduca or the opening track Movimento.

Tiago Sousa

Born in 1983, on a rainy Fall morning, has always committed his life to music. In his teenage years, he spent his lunch money on records, rapidly growing to start his first band. After a brief stint at Barreiro's Jazz School, studying jazz guitar, he grew out of tune with music's academic ways. He started Goodbye Toulouse, and played with indie-rock act Jesus the Misunderstood and with tribalism-tinged experimental outfit Sapien Sapiens. At the same time, he started the Merzbau label, one of the first and most accomplished portuguese netlabels.

His later re-found enthusiasm for childhood learnings, though, materialized itself in the shape of a vertical wooden-colored piano suddenly planted in his bedroom. The instrument's omnipresence became determinant in his life since then. With it, Tiago recorded 2006's Crepúsculo and 2007's Noite/Nuit, both released on Merzbau, and 2008's acclaimed The Western Lands, on german label Resting Bell. The Western Lands became the mote for his first european tour, crossing half Europe by train to play the record to growing audiences. In the meantime, he shared the stage with people such as Shannon Wright, Paul Metzger or Vic Chestnutt.

All along this path he always kept a musical activism streak, consistently putting on shows for the bands he believed in, and strengthening ties with festivals such as Barreiro Outras Músicas and the the rapidly growing OUT.FEST, an international mecca for exploratory music, held just across the river from Lisbon.

Folha Caduca @ ZDB from Tiago Sousa on Vimeo.

Review on Foxy Digitalis!

Tiago Sousa "The Western Lands"
Resting Bell

Released simultaneously as a cdr and a free mp3 release on netlabel Resting Bell, Tiago Sousa's "The Western Lands" is certainly an intriguing listen. The title will be familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of William S. Burroughs, and the liners tell us that Sousa's music is "far more than an interpretation of Burrough's text". Titles aside, the inspiration and connection is clear, but not heavy handed. And while the results never quite yield the "musical cut ups" promised in the liners, there's no disappointment here. What we have instead is a lovely 40 minute collection of restrained compositions drawing on modern classical, folk, noise (albeit very gently) and ambient touchstones. The basic elements, electric guitar, piano, nylon stringed classical guitar, and some floating distortion, are woven together with confidence and purpose. There are points (such as the distorted guitar and melodic piano of the first track) where seemingly disparate voices are placed together, vying for the listener's focus and creating a nice tension. More often than not however, this tension is suggested and flirted with, rather than drawn out and made obvious. There's something very restrained and subtle about Tiago's work which lends it a serious character. Nothing stays too long, and one gets the sense Sousa has a strong interest in quality control and dedication to his aesthetic. As with the best music of this type, it carries itself with a sort of grace and maturity. There's not a whole lot of sonic grit here, and some may find its beauty a bit too pristine. But there's always something to be said for skilled musicianship and lovely composition. Think of it as a nice antidote to the drones and dissonance so common in experimental music today. 7/10 -- Eric Hardiman (20 May, 2008)

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