For Adriana Del Re (with slightly added notes from Marcelo de Assis)
You must have strength, you must have courage, you must always have desire. It seems that Samuel Rosa followed the advice of his idol Milton Nascimento. After all, it wasn’t an easy decision for Samuel to say goodbye Skank, a very successful band for three decades – so a comfortable and safe place – and embark on a solo career.
But it was a necessary intervention. Starting all over again, but now, with the advantage of bringing with it the laurels of a famous work and a style of composing, singing and playing that has become a brand, a personalized signature, one of those you refer to when you want to talk about a pop song so beautiful in terms of lyrics and music that it seems like a composition by Samuele Rosa. Then the ruler is high.
And it is this revered brand that sets the tone for his long-awaited debut solo album, rosewhich debuted this Thursday (27) on digital platforms distributed by Sony Music Publishing. The album cover, by Stephan Doitschioffcarries in its typography numerous references to the songs present in the repertoire.
The album title is self-referential, like a self-affirmation. The idea is to continue the legacy and not create a break, to delimit this rite of passage. “I didn’t want to compulsively try to do something I’ve never done. I want to exercise who I am,” States Samuel Rose. “My brand is my legacy.”
Samuel he uses an image he has seen up close as a sort of mantra: that of Paul McCartney who sounds resigned Hey Jude on the piano, in the show he performed last year, for a small audience in Brasilia, which was attended by the guitarist, composer and singer from Minas Gerais.
Hey Jude It’s an old hit, from 1968, but one that the ex-Beatle continues to maintain in his performances. “I joke that Paul sent me telepathically: ‘Samuel, don’t invent, do what you know how to do’. And the musician did what he knows how to do. “I wanted to sound like me, of course, without wanting to make it a pretentious record. I let the new appear spontaneously”explains.
Listen to the ten tracks of the album rose is to see how the composition of Samuel Rose he shaped the style of stupid as we have known him all these years, flirting with various musical genres, but using pop as a filter, as a compass.
rose it was done in an engaging, intense and organic way, with fewer machines and more bands, even when electronic drums enter some tracks. It’s also a more Brazilian album. This is largely due to a strong musical atmosphere that takes us back to Erasmo Carlos and Jorge Ben JorSamuel’s influences and elements bossanovistas. All packaged in its popular universe full of nuances.
The texts, which bring experiences of Samuele Rosadelving into the universe of love, to talk about relationships in their different aspects. It is a sunny work, even if it deals with the thorniest issues of relationships.
Except for the track River inside the seacomposed by Samuel at the end of the pandemic, in 2022, this collection of new songs made especially for rose it was born from a peculiar process he developed. Between January and February this year, the musician isolated himself in his daughter’s room, in Belo Horizonte. There he did what he calls induced compositionfor three, four hours, always in the morning.
After lunch he went to the studio, where he met the members of his new band, formed by Rolim Pier (guitar and electric guitar), Alexandre Mourao (contrabass), Peter Kremer (keyboards) e Marcelo Dai (drums and percussion). “It was really discipline, I made a point of arriving every day with a new song in the afternoon and showing it to the band, even if it was bad, good, average, without judgement”he says.
The dynamics were the same in any band: Samuel presented what he had composed to the musicians and the others gave suggestions and considerations, acting as ‘co-producers’. The difference is that now he has the final say. In these moments the composer experiences a dichotomy: while he desires this freedom of decision, he feels the burden of having the last word. Or, while he is joking, he looked around and saw that he was the last in line, that after him there was no one to give an opinion.
But the synergy and exchange with his new band worked well. Samuel Rose he is happy with this lineup, which mixes old and new musicians, and with the idea of going on the road with it, undertaking the new tour, starting from the second half of this year. Docks AND Alexander they are old musical companions: the guitarist accompanied him stupid and the double bass player was with Samuel in the first band of his life.
Already Peter Kremer he is a well-known keyboardist of the band Gaúcha Big dog AND Marcelo Daitalented drummer of a new generation, introduced to Samuel rose for your son Julian. The album also features Daniel Guedes on percussion on the songs Street flowers, give me you AND Dear friend.
Samuel Rose divides the production of rose with another old partner, the sound engineer and music producer Renato Cipriano.
Connections
The process of composing Samuel it flowed faster than he expected. Rehearsals have begun in the studio Cherubini Associationnon-profit organization dedicated to the development of children and youth through art, culture and sport, in Belo Horizonte, and the recordings extended to Sonasterio Studioinstalled in a bucolic setting and with a privileged view of the mountains near the capital of Minas Gerais.
Samuel also showed his band 20 songs and together they reached ten. Follow the game it is the first single taken from the new work. It is the end of a relationship, but treated with a certain lightness. Everyone moves on with their lives, knowing that what remains is the memory of a love that was beautiful while it lasted. “You go one way/I’ll go the other/everything’s fine/get on with the game”sing Samuel in the chorus, which conveys that déjà-vu feeling of unfailing success.
“I didn’t make the song specifically for any case. I made it for the things I’ve experienced. And I see in these breakups how much guilt people carry with them. People who leave a relationship feel guilty and so do those who stay.”reflect Samuel. In this piece he uses the major seventh chord, often used by Bossa Nova and for Marco Valle AND Sergio Mendeswhich gives the piece a tone of lightness, a resource he has been using for some time. Segue o Jogo thus establishes a tenuous link with other works previously composed by Samuel.
Meanwhile, in the album’s repertoire roseSegue o Jogo is reflected in the song Have no mercy (Samuele Rosa). Both tracks are about heartbreak, but differently Follow the gamethe lyrical self of Have no mercy still carries the pain of separation. “You got used to my plea/you hide it, but you liked/my suffering”, lead the choir.
“The two songs have similar themes, as if they were chapters of the same book. Não Dentro Dó is also another bossinha, but it’s more MPB”to conceptualize Samuel. This song also gains a mid-Sixties vibe thanks to the Canadian’s string arrangement Owen Pallettwho has worked with bands like Arcade Fire, Duran Duran AND REM: “I love The Last Shadow Puppets, a project by Miles Kane with Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys. They have two albums and the sound, especially the first album, is very retro, reminiscent of 60s soundtracks, mixed with rock. I asked him to make a tropical The Last Shadow of Puppets.”
Pallet he also signs the string arrangements Palm tree AND River inside the sea– this is a metaphor that arises from a perception that Samuel had during the pandemic. Visiting the coast of São Paulo more and more often, he began to pay attention to the sea and saw that the currents that form there look like rivers in the sea. Coincidence or not, River inside the sea refers to the sound of Two riversalbum success Cosmotron (2003).
In addition to the agreements, River inside the sea connects to Palm tree from the theme that permeates both: the beginning of Samuel’s relationship with the journalist Laura Sarkovasmother of her newborn daughter, with her living in St. Paul and him, in Belo Horizonte, in addition to the distance imposed by the musician’s tour trips.
Ciranda Seca It was made for the character in the series New Song, but it is also a hymn to the Brazilian woman, warrior and emancipated. The song fits perfectly with the soundtrack of the hinterland of the north-east, but it could easily come from the hinterland of Minas Gerais. Guimarães Rosa.
With Rosa, Samuele Rosa He talks about consolidating his brand, but he is already definitely consolidated not only in national pop, but also in the history of Brazilian music. Now is the time to play the game, Samuel.
Listen to the album:
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
