by Álvaro Molina (@alvaromolinare)
Last year, when bands were still touring around the world and we were all oblivious to this crazy 2020, indie rock legends Built to Spill headed to Europe for an early spring tour. Formed by Doug Martsch in 1992, BTS has been through many lineup changes, with Martsch as its only constant member. Now, his touring buddies include João Luiz, João Casaes, and Lê Almeida, three prominent figures from the lo-fi indie pop community of Rio de Janeiro.
Almeida is a well-known character in Brazil’s freaky indie scene; he’s been part of stalwart acts like Tape Rec and Refrigerantes and also manages Transfusão Noise Records, one of Latin America’s most renowned housing for raucous, lo-fi, alternative conjuntos – Spanish for “bands”. Oruã is Almeida’s most recent brainchild, a three-piece ensemble that flirts with 90s-informed weird-psych, raw indie rock, and pastel riffs. With two studio albums as of today (definitely go check out last year’s Romã) and a slowly surging underground audience, Oruã was a lovely choice to join BTS on its European 2019 adventure.
So, what happened on that trip? At some point in the middle leg of the tour, one of the opening bands swapped and Swiss iconoclasts Disco Doom entered the bill. Led by the core duo of guitarist/vocalist Gabriele de Mario and guitarist/bassist Anita Rufer, DD’s reinterpretation of old school indie rock eschews the label of “nineties revivalists”. Sure, the guitar-driven sound owes a lot to many Gen-X bands (they actually supported Built to Spill on a North American tour during 2009), but Disco Doom’s game is tilted towards crazy experimentations through a unique sound that blends punk, wacky art rock, and flat-out noise. Anyways, back to the story. So, it turns out that a bizarre indie rock love triangle formed between these three bands. It was just a matter of time for something to spawn from it. Kindred spirits work great together and so it seemed natural for Oruã and Disco Doom to take advantage of this casual encounter. With a shared love of both Kiss and Guided by Voices, Lê Almeida and Gabriele de Mario put together the project of making a split record as a way of, according to Almeida, “eternalizing a demonstration of affection and admiration”. Thus, Esmeralda Destiny Analysis was born.
This split EP is a brief, yet precise combination of two (very) complementary worlds, despite being continents and languages apart. You must have heard that music is a “universal language” and you’re probably aware that long distance collabs between bands are not that rare in this time. Esmeralda fuses both notions and the result sounds so blatantly awesome. These are two songs that elude the trivialities of experimental pop and some of the looping, pedal-addicted boredoms of current neo-psychedelia. “Kollaps Korrekt” is Disco Doom’s bet, a noisy, overdriven collage of thrusting riffs that gets weirder with every passing second. It sounds like an acidic kaleidoscope of raw pop experimentation, much like Robert Pollard’s output, but here it all sprawls into sheer and brilliant cacophony. On the other hand, “Diamante Nasce” shows Oruã going all-in with seven minutes of warm psychedelia and backward droning melodies. Almeida’s spiraling voice is sweet and sluggish, like a cool-headed mantra that resonates over the reversed afrobeat-inspired rhythms and splashes of echoing guitars. It’s a two-sided experience of chaotic rock & roll and narcotic, mind-bending colorful psych.
Esmeralda Destiny Analysis is a stylish collaboration between two soulful and like-minded projects, soaring from today’s psych and 90s-influenced overload of sounds. In times where distance seems like an omnipresent concept that is forcibly reshaping our culture, it’s beautiful to find music that, despite all physical gaps, still produces an honest communion.