Rio de Janeiro-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Thiago Nassif announced his new full-length Mente will be released on July 3rd via Gearbox Records. The album was co-produced by No Wave legend Arto Lindsay (DNA, Lounge Lizards) who also plays guitar on the album’s lead video/single “Soar Estranho,” which is out now.
Sung part in Portguese and part in English, “Soar Estranho” is an irrepressible slice of quirky, hook-laden, yet tropically laid-back Brazilian magic that sounds like Berlin-period-Bowie at his most radio friendly.
Named the album after the Portuguese word mente, which means “mind” and also “to lie,” Nassif explains:
I chose this name mainly because Portuguese is the only language that connects these two semantic possibilities: thinking and lying. And also because now we are living this post-truth political era, where Brazil is at the top of the charts in these matters right now.
Thiago Nassif gathers part of Rio de Janeiro’s younger generation of talents, many of whom have collaborated with and take influence from the likes of Caetano Veloso, João Donato and Ava Rocha, and who now appear on his latest project. Featured on the first single “Soar Estranho” are progressive musicians Vinicius Cantuária (O Terço, Bill Frisell, John Zorn) on drums and Ricardo Dias Gomes (Kill Shaman, Caetano Veloso) on Minimoog.
Mente will be available on vinyl, CD and across all digital platforms. A tour of the US, as well as dates at Cafe Oto (London) on July 2nd and in various cities across Europe are planned to support the release.
The leading light of the new generation of Brazilian songwriters ~ Arto Lindsay