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Press: livingwatersrecords@gmail.com
LIYL:
Beach Fossils, Boogarins, The Holydrug Couple
Bicicleta Sem Rodinha
1. Corre Rua (March 5th)
2. Qualquer Coisa
3. Mergulho
4. Para Relaxar / Salto
5. Azul + Rosa
*FCC Clean*
Gabo
Gabo is the dream pop project of Gabriel Islaz.
Based in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Gabo is releasing his upcoming EP, Bicicleta Sem Rodinha, via Living Waters Records on April 9th, 2021 with a limited run of one-sided 12” vinyl.
Bicicleta Sem Rodinha is Gabo’s ethereal journey of home production that takes listeners on a winding, chimerical tour of the artist’s hometown streets. Its songs recall the trepidation and eagerness of ascending into adulthood; pages of a memory book flipping through shots of summer evenings tainted by personal insecurities and uncertainty. With looking back also comes a sudden jolt of one’s surroundings; the reality of a world in unrest that cares little for your need to adjust.
With each reverb-drenched strum, Gabo invokes American indies like Beach Fossils and Real Estate; but his airy, psychedelic Portuguese vocals garner comparison to Brazilian greats such as Boogarins and Lê Almeida.
While his family didn’t reside in the upper enchlanches of society, Islaz was able to soak up influence and education within the Porto Alegre’s cultural spaces - theaters, workshops, and its world famous literary fair. Crediting his family for their insistence on such cultural stimulation, Gabo’s guitar playing began early. While he’d inevitably absorb the regional sounds from his upbringing, it was Porto Alegre’s radio stations like Ipanema FM that brought alternative international music into his world.
Bicicleta Sem Rodinha is the product of Islaz’s venture into home production. He took a DIY approach and recorded all instruments on the EP himself; between moving apartments and running to a disastrous leaky roof, re-records and borrowed instruments, Gabo considers the collection of songs he tracked to be a feat. Dubbing the experience as ‘a personal challenge’, he handed his final mixes to Soma Studio’s Felipe Magrinelli for the final analog mastering touches. The result is a sound that oscillates between lo-fi, spacey indie and bright, intentional pop.
Viewing COVID-19 as a ‘turning point for human mobilization and the compulsory acceleration of technology’, the pandemic reinforced Islaz’s emphasis on DIY ethos and practices; from re-framing songs and producing more art to reading and taking on new subjects of learning in his newfound time. In an isolated state, he found himself hearing his songs differently, “sometimes awakening what represented a present and constant feeling, something distant and abstract, as if it had happened in another life.”
Bicicleta Sem Rodinha drops as Carnivale wraps in Porto Alegre and as the winter begins to relent its frozen grip on Brooklyn. Both hemispheres carrying on to an uncertain near future. Gabo’s songs can soundtrack a walk through the hungover, party-ravaged streets or the first days out of a cold, (at times mandated), solitude.