Romulo Fróes

Perfect album for airport layovers from one of Brazil’s greatest singer-songwriters, Romulo Fróes.

One of the most fascinating artists in the contemporary music scene not only in his homeland, Romulo Fróes was the winner of our Best of 2014 list for Brazil and came back almost at the very top in Best of 2016.

Now you probably can expect to see him again in our recommendation for 2018, because his newest album “O Disco das Horas” (“The Album of Hours”) is another masterpiece that just like his previous effort, is innovative, risky and unpredictable – but at the same time bring so much listening pleasure.

The “clock concept” behind this album originated from his longtime collaborator and poet Nuno Ramos, who send Romulo lyrics dedicate to waiting hours Nuno spent at an airport in Italy. It started with 8 hours/poems, but soon four more followed – and then somehow the 13th hour came in as well.

For Romulo, the music came as naturally and the core of “O Disco das Horas” was ready in just a couple of days. Arrangements – with brass instruments in the forefront – soon followed. Thematically, as always in the case of Romulo, this material is full of references to politics and social issues, but even more about the anxiety and frailty of life.

Something neither Romulo nor Nuno have probably planned is that the metaphor of the clock can apply to the record itself – it should keep spinning again and again from the 1st hour to the 12th – sorry, 13th.

Stream “O Disco das Horas” LP on Soundcloud and Spotify.

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Photo credit: Luan Cardoso

Romulo Fróes on SoundcloudFacebookTwitter, www.

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