Portugal is learning how to be great and so far it is doing pretty well: winning the football Euro 2016, the Eurovision 2016 and the Futsal Euro 2017, amongst many other awards related to tourism and hospitality. Portuguese music, on the other hand, was struggling to be noticed not only outside boundaries but also inside this small rectangle but that’s changing now. Proving that, we present you some hot projects we’re sure you’ll hear a lot about them.
Marinho – Ghost Notes
Some artists make their way to defy that tendency and they are ready to launch themselves to bigger stages. One of those artists is Marinho aka Filipa Marinho, a former broadcaster who also worked for Tradiio and Red Bull in Cultural Communication, dealing closer to some artists. Later she moved to Brooklyn where she returned writing and composing and the result is an incredible album which will be released this year, presented by her first single Ghost Notes. This is a quiet pop-folk ballad inspired by the best since she’s dealing with them for so long. The song is accompanied by a video filmed in delay giving a higher sense of nostalgic and melancholy. Marinho is already on the top chats for the ones to follow this year in Portugal, but we truly think that you should spread the word wherever you are too.
Niki Moss – GP Motorcycle Racing
Miguel Vilhena is Niki Moss, and as Niki Moss, he’s not a complete stranger for us as we already talked about him and his music before. We don’t have much to add and that’s a compliment. Niki Moss sounds complex and at the same time very coherent and cohesive. Since his first solo release last year, GP Motorcycle Racing is his third single and it gets more and more exciting. The countless influences are constantly present in his music but he’s also always pushing his creativity and techniques farther than his limits and the result is obviously some amazing songs, mixing odds to some 80’s classics and future sonorities. The truth is that we can’t get away from Niki Moss and we’re sure you’ll get addicted too.
SINAH – None Of Us
Sinah is not actually Portuguese, she’s in fact born and raised in Berlin but has been recently living in Lisbon. She also lived in Brooklyn at the age of 18 and after that moved to London where she got the chance to improve her bass techniques. She’s now working as a singer-songwriter and producer and None Of Us is the last result of her recent work. Her voice sounds like Romi’s, from The XX, but darker: Sinah produces a dark mysterious sonority and although it’s electronic it sounds very organic, using many natural elements. Her music gives us mixed feelings as her vocals are a bit dreamy and sweet, sometimes naïve, but the instrumental elements are deep, mature and obscure almost as we were listening to different songs. That sense of duality is what keeps our excitement about Sinah’s music every time we listen to it, the fact that she creates such dynamic sounds and never sounding confusing takes her to a whole different stage. Definitely, the many influences she had wherever she lived shaped her delicate taste for electronic music.
Lagoa Laguna, Miianmar, TOMMY BOY – Howuwantit
Speaking in Portuguese bands, this mash-up act is the result of a group of talented musicians who created a label Geleia Lenta and now is releasing their work. Howuwantit is the first ever single of the bands being released by the label. The idea will be put out an album with songs by all of the label bands, creating some unlikely features. From here we can only expect the unexpected, unique sonorities, different genres that can vary between soul-R’n’B, some electronic and probably rock. For now, Howuwantit (how you want it) sounds like a mid-90’s boys band with a notch of novelty and refreshing summery ambient. If you haven’t discovered Portugal and its music, here you have an opportunity to start paying attention to what this country can show to the world.
WtMM Team