This week’s column is special (for me, in any case), as I will be talking about an old friend of mine, Fabio Góes. We first met when we were in the same class in kindergarten, at age 5 (!!!), and then we were in school together all the way until the end of high school (we were close friends especially between 13 and 16 years old). Already in high school, Góes was involved with all kinds of garage bands, and at the time he was mostly a drummer; but in college he increasingly moved closer to the spotlights to become a ‘front man’ (lead vocals and guitar). By now, he plays pretty much all instruments you can think of, but in recent years the piano in particular has occupied an important place in his music.
After some success with a band named Pau Mandado in the late 1990s, by the early 2000s he was working in the studio of Antonio Pinto, who is responsible for the soundtracks of many important Brazilian films (such as Cidade de Deus (City of God); one of the tracks is by Góes himself). In 2007, Fabio Góes released his first solo album, Sol no Escuro, with an independent label. Slowly but surely, he received more and more media attention; Sol no Escuro ended up on the Brazilian Rolling Stone list of 15 best albums of the year. Some of its songs were then featured in an HBO-produced Brazilian TV series, Alice, and ‘Sem mentira’ in particular became quite popular.
Just two weeks ago, Fabio Góes released his second solo album, O Destino Vestido de Noiva. While Sol no Escuro was a rather melancholic album (some would describe it as the crossing between Brazilian music and Radiohead), the second album is more ‘luminous’ (at least that’s the word that keeps ringing in my head when I listen to it). To be sure, it is still nothing in the vicinity of don’t-worry-be-happy-go-dancing Brazilian music; the main features of Góes’ music are sophisticated, subtle arrangements, elaborate lyrics, demanding melodies (somehow, it reminds me of Edu Lobo, a singer/composer of the1960s generation known for the complexity of his music). In most songs he plays all the instruments himself, but a few songs have the participation of special guests.
Writing this column was also a reason to get in touch with Góes, whom I hadn’t been in touch with for a few years. I asked him to pick one song in each of his albums, the songs which would best represent each of the two phases in his career. He chose ‘Sol no Escuro’ for the first album, as it was the arrangement for this song which set the tone for the ‘aesthetical path’ he was looking for at that moment. As for the second album, he chose ‘Nossa casa’ as a song whose ‘aesthetical solution’ he is particularly happy with (both ‘aesthetical path’ and ‘aesthetical solution’ are his terms – I like them!). Personally, I also like ‘A Rua’ (the song of the album that comes closest to more traditional Brazilian rhythms) and ‘E o amor que não cabe mais’, on the overwhelming experience of becoming a father. You can listen to the whole album on his website and decide for yourself, but for now here are Góes’ own picks.
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