I felt butterflies in my stomach because I was doing something I had never done before, and not because I was creating something different from what is done out there”, says Luiza. Photo- Bruno Moya Fenart: Disclosure
I felt butterflies in my stomach because I was doing something I had never done before, and not because I was creating something different from what is done out there”, says Luiza. Photo- Bruno Moya Fenart: Disclosure

Two years after releasing her eponymous debut album, São Paulo singer-songwriter Luiza Lian brings to light a new project. This time, her songs come in an unusual format: at the same time that they complete the concept of an album, they are packaged as the soundtrack of a 24-minute medium-length film, directed by Camila Maluhy and Octávio Tavares. Entitled Oya Time, the work is, in the trio's concept, a “visual album”.

In conversation with the report of CULTURE! Brazilians, Luiza explains that the crossing of languages ​​of Oya Weather it was not premeditated. According to her, the idea arose in the midst of another project, a performance based on poems of her own, but the propositions, however, came together organically so that everything took a new format as Luiza showed her ideas to friends and partners. of work. Naturally, she accepted some suggestions and came to the consensus that she should bet on this unusual format. In addition to bringing together poems that make up the performance, the album, which contains eight tracks, is made up of compositions inspired by Umbanda stitches – hence the title, a reference to the deity of Yoruba mythology, also known as Iansã, who controls winds, lightning and storms – and brings clear influences of funk carioca and trip-hop.

In the studio records, Luiza's compositions were covered in an instrumental web created by Charlie Tixier (Charlie e os Marretas / Holger) and Gui Jesus Toledo, also responsible for mixing and mastering the work. “Putting myself in this new position was a way of orienting myself”, says Luiza.

The celebration of Oyá is subjectively present in sequences of the film, and also in the sound elements of the songs, full of lysergic effects and distortions, which refer to the weather. The atmosphere of the medium-length film, at times, is heavy and dismal, and its narrative takes place in a fragmented way. “I wanted to show the idea of ​​time as destiny. A time that is not linear”, explains Luiza.

Camila Maluhy, who plays with Octávio Tavares the audiovisual production company Filmes da Diaba, had already shown interest in producing a music video by the composer. Oya Weather was scheduled to be released at the end of 2016, but, as the work gained these new contours, the visual album has only now reached the market. The production also marks the first partnership between Luiza's record label, RISCO, and Filmes da Diaba.

Despite the experiments that culminated in the work, Luiza ponders and says that she did not intend to bring up something innovative. “I felt butterflies in my stomach because I was doing something I had never done before, and not because I was creating something different from what is being done out there”, she defends.

The cast of the film has the participation of the singer Nina Oliveira, whom Luiza met during the recording of a video clip of her friend Camila Garófalo, and the rapper MC Diggão. The identification with Nina, according to her, was immediate: “We connected and I decided to introduce her to Camila and Octávio, because I thought she fit very well what we were looking for”. The MC was discovered by chance by the directors when they wandered around Ubatuba and asked him for information to build the script, which had the beach on the north coast of São Paulo as one of the locations.

Oya Weather also culminated in the production of a new website for the singer (luizalian.com.br), with a graphic project developed by Rafael Trabasso, known as Dedos, with whom Luiza graduated in Visual Arts. Unusual as the visual album, the virtual page has exclusively vertical scrolling content and iconography that refers to the aesthetics of the feature film.

On stage, with the unusual proposal of this work, Luiza was afraid that the public would receive the stimuli with a certain estrangement, but she says that the reactions have been very positive: “Some people leave shocked, emotional, asking themselves 'what was that? !'” he says happily.

Oya Weather was released virtually at the end of March and can be watched, listened to and downloaded on the singer's website or just viewed directly on her YouTube channel. The project was recently presented at Matilha Cultural and in the schedule of an occupation at Casa do Mancha, alternative spaces based in São Paulo. The presentation in the occupation also featured the performance that was the starting point for the work.

Restless, Luiza is already preparing the successor to Oya Weather. He recently locked himself up with his musicians at the Canoa studio, in the Sumaré district, in the west of the capital, to record the new album, scheduled to be released by the RISCO label next September. Until then, he will continue to make regular presentations, which will be able to alternate the repertoire of his debut album and that of Oya Weather. On the 29th of this month, at the Audio Club, in São Paulo, Luiza will perform the opening show of the Scottish singer and songwriter Paolo Nutini.


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