On the way to my son’s swimming lessons—he’s less than two years old—I’m listening to the pummeling drums on the intro track, PARASITA, which kicks off your latest, visceral release, CICATRIZES DO FUTURO. The album set the appropriate tone: my son is extremely afraid of the water, and, while necessary, swimming lessons will certainly cause mild trauma; hopefully, he’ll learn to overcome the stressful experience and face the challenges of life head on. The repetitious drums pummeled our senses, and the distortion riffs and vocals washed over our minds, perfectly preparing us for the plunge that was both terrifying and electrifying.
I’m excited to speak with you! Thank you for taking the time. Your album is a necessary reflection on the corruption and toxicity prevalent today amongst societies that are pillaged by the powerful.
Thanks a lot for your words brother, and for taking the time as well! You know, reading your thoughts about your son’s fear of water reminded me of a recent review on “yourlastrites.com,” where he said that “Cicatrizes Do Futuro is an album that sounds like a river, like that paradox of endless movement by which it is always and never the same thing.” Of course, being in the water can be stressful and life-threatening if you don’t know how to swim, but I also think it could maybe represent a certain fear of the unknown.
While society influences the music we make, I’m curious to hear how interpersonal relationships shaped your creation of this album: family, friends, acquaintances, a lone figure standing on the street? Or perhaps were world events, told through third-party media, a stronger influence?
I think that DEAFKIDS, in a general sense, conceptually speaking, is influenced by the zeitgeist of our times. I believe we are relating to everything, whether it’s people, objects, ideologies, etc… This is the great mirror that can show us who we really are, if we are willing to see. And well, firstly we are directly influenced by the world around us, the experience of being a Brazilian in the world, where we live and where we come from, and what affects us most directly and is present in our daily lives (whether externally or internally), our inner struggles and the psychological and psychic issues that consequently are interconnected with the whole world on a large scale. I think a strong point is also our relationship with music, which is practically devotional. I think the modal way I create my music, whether in DEAFKIDS or in my solo project YANTRA, ends up bringing these more spiritual and “metaphysical” aspects to the sonic experience as well.
One of my favorite tracks is CICATRIZES, which has an irresistible sway to its groove that builds nicely into an explosive, distorted, and tumultuous finish! The raw vocals and echoing snare send me spiraling into an endless hellscape, where fire and brimstone are tepid compared to the horrors that await. I wish some of those corrupt politicians would listen to your music; perhaps it could motivate them to behave and act less selfishly towards greater society.
I think it’s interesting how music is able to propose and create possible images and scenarios. Overall, I believe our music calls for change by shedding light on the shadows. We need to be aware and protect ourselves, our spirits, and connect with what is real. What will be left for us in a few years? With increasingly less access to basic resources, with extremely alienated minds, increasingly controlled and divided, our country’s sovereignty is constantly threatened… Music is also awareness, and a tool for uniting people through that.
What’s the recording and editing process like? I’m picturing long, unedited demo tracks that you sit down together and revise until they feel complete. At what point do you say, “Ah, that’s done?” Do you pursue a feeling or emotion, or a certain decibel level of ear-shattering distortion?
That was basically it, haha. We had ideas and drafts that we started working on in 2023, which already pointed towards a sonic direction. We live in different states, me (Douglas) in Rio de Janeiro and Mariano in São Paulo, so there were times working together and times working remotely, exchanging audio on WhatsApp with some cell phone recorded demos, etc. First came the process of creating and capturing the electronic foundation of the album, and then we created riffs and polyrhythmic ideas on top of that, thus reshaping the electronic elements with our “organic” part of the band and vice-versa. Then came a long editing process on my part, and later we went to a studio to record the instruments (guitars, drums, percussion, vocals, etc.). The editing only really finished at the very last moment of mixing, just before mastering.
I’m always looking for a feeling or emotion, thinking of a body of work as an aesthetic universe filled with vibrations and visions… and definitely for loudness, pressure and depth. For this album, we defined the idea of having more “urgent,” and deliberately rhythmic and more “danceable” songs, and the idea is always to seek different experimental approaches than in previous albums, so this brings different solutions to the overall work and aesthetic.
I was close to visiting Brazil when I was younger; in fact, my parents purchased plane tickets—only to back away when they heard news that Brazilians were burning effigies of President George W. Bush in the streets. They took this as a warning: Americans are not welcome here.
In hindsight, I don’t believe this was a rejection of Americans generally, but of their government: a small, powerful group of people focused on manufacturing corruption and despair across the world for their own benefit. Unfortunately, my family and I didn’t connect with Brazilians. We became siloed by our fear, created by the toxicity of power, placing our heads more firmly in the sand. Perhaps music serves as an antidote to this fear, breaking down the boundaries that prevented my family, and others, from connecting with other cultures and perspectives.
Yeah man, music and culture are definitely a solid part of understanding and connecting with people. I believe that American propaganda (rooted in education, etc.) seems very strong, biased, manipulative, and racist… It certainly follows an imperialist (and white) agenda to place itself at the top and paint some other places in the world as dangerous and full of bad and threatening people. While the rest of the world knows very well which empires were and are the cause of so much misfortune, violence, and greed in the present and history of the world… Anyway, I hope that one day you can visit Brazil, I’m sure you’ll be very well received and that you’ll have a great time, brother!
How do you perceive yourselves in the tumultuous global political landscape?
We find ourselves searching for real experiences and connections, with real people and things: the power of music and arts, nature, a healthy and empathetic community around the world. More and more, the script of life seems to be written and controlled by lunatic and psychopathic minds, and we don’t want to live 100% inside that cruel story. It’s a strange feeling sometimes to think about making a living from art in a world that seems to be increasingly collapsing, but anyway, I feel that music is one of the oldest crafts, and one of the most powerful transformative forces in human arts that transcends time and space, so at the same time, I feel it’s a privilege to have chosen and been chosen for this path, no matter how hard this may be. We abhor any form of capitalist, technocratic, imperialist, and neo-colonial control and domination. Our music is also a cry for the freedom of oppressed peoples, against any form of physical and mental alienation.
The final track, EM TRANSE, indeed puts me deep into a meditative state. My gaze hardens in reaction to the buzzing electronics and drums careening to and fro, building slowly as ghostly, roaring vocals ebb and flow against the grooves and driving guitars. It’s a climax that appropriately concludes what is a groove-laden odyssey, insisting the listener stands firm against the atrocities of mankind. It’s the equivalent of a raised, clenched fist in front of a sea of firmly nodding heads.
I see this album as a stand against tyranny and oppression; what I take as its primary message: suppression of self-expression is not welcome here. I appreciate the wonderful art, a soundtrack, an ode to those who will stand firm against bad actors in government, or any powerful position.
If you could perform for any person’s rally, current or historical, to represent what they do sonically with your excellent music, for whom and where would you perform?
Amazing words brother!
That’s a great question. Historically, it would be an honor to be part of a Fela Kuti rally! Nowadays, we would definitely play at rallies for indigenous and peasant leaders from my country or in South America.