Lenine 'Labiata' album

Lenine loves orchids and he loves them so much that he has chosen one of his favorites, Labiata as the name of his new album – proof that not only do opposites attract – this species adapts to every environment. There is a great variation in color and it survives well at sea level as well as at 2000 meters. And so just like Lenine’s work, regional, pop, rock, samba, electronic, personal and universal, Lenine is a lot of things in just one package. He changes, if you will, to stay the same. From “Baque Solto” in 1983 up to this new album, his ascendancy is filled with changes that could point to new roads or simply new ways to get to the same destination. Labiata, which has 11 new songs, is an important landmark in Lenine’s career with this first release by Universal Music out next March, 2009.

Labiata was conceived differently from other albums by Lenine. “I got into the studio with none of the tracks even remotely ready – I created them all during the recording. When a recording is made, much of the work is already done; for this album it was a mix of a lack of time and because I just really wanted to test the freshness of composing on the spot and then recording – I worked on the number during the night and then recorded it during the day”.

The CD is the first studio work by Lenine after a six year hiatus - the last was in 2002. Produced by JR Tostoi and Lenine, Labiata gathers him together along with other on-stage partners such as Tostoi himself, Pantico Rocha and Guila. “There is a big difference in this work. In all the albums recorded in a studio I treated each track as an independent project, within its own borders. I worked with different people. Not on this album though. I used the experience of working with this group of musicians who are with me for so many years and we made this album together. The coming together of all these people is something else – it’s all together much more than just individual effort which is entirely something else”

He says that the album, even made in a studio, does indeed have the feel of a live album. “Labiata has this peculiarity; it sounds really like a live album, because we all played together without overdubs”. He believes that the results of this closeness are something quite unique. “We are all in sync here – I think it sounds like a real band. It’s like we feed off one another in a great way. We don’t speak with one another a lot but just one look and we all understand one another. Labiata is quite intimate in this sense.

The greater part of the album was recorded in JR Tostoi’s studio, which besides producing, supplied guitar, organization and editing facilities. “This work is kind of a garage band sound” says Lenine smiling. “ First we would record a version of the number with JR Tostoi, just with guitar and voice with at most one beat. We got the rhythm of the song and I’d forget it and go home and do another. Next day, we’d record again. After about 15 days, we’d stop and then listen and only then we would start to pre-produce.”

The usual dependable suspects have collaborated with him on Labiata. Bráulio Tavares, Lula Queiroga, Dudu Falcão, Ivan Santos, Paulo César Pinheiro, Carlos Rennó and Arnaldo Antunes. But the album also has the first time collaboration with Chico Science on “Samba e Leveza”. “This is quite a strange story”, Lenine says. “ I knew Chico, but was never that close to him though I have an enormous admiration for his work and for Nação Zumbi. His sister, Goretti, went to my house and showed me some stuff and asked that the lyrics become songs”.

The album is 100% authorial. With Arnaldo Antunes, Lenine has penned two songs. “Arnaldo is a very flexible partner; we’ve done only a few songs together – “O Céu é Muito” and “Excesso Exceto”. I am very fond of Arnaldo – he’s one of the great thinkers in this country” says Lenine. The song features China, former singer with Sheik Tosado and Del Rey.

“Lá Vem a Cidade” is one more by Bráulio Tavares who has produced great songs such as “Miragem do Porto” and “ O Dia em que Faremos Contato” among many.
“He is the man, one of the great mentors of this generation. The lyrics of this song speak of the melting of the ice-caps that is happening so quickly”.

“Magra” is a song composed in partnership with Ivan Santos. He is more than just a partner – he is a great poet - he’s been out of the country for the last 20 years. This song is really tight. When we were recording a demo, I was wearing thick pants, suitable for the cold and got the rhythm going running my fingernails up and down my pants which turned out to be the “thin” sound we were looking for” says Lenine. “I love this unexpected sound you get from unexpected elements which you can use within the recording – all my songs have this element.”

With Paulo César Pinheiro, Lenine composed “Ciranda Praieira”. “These lyrics look like they were made some 200 years ago” he said laughingly – there is something classic about it”. This track has special input from Galician composer Carlos Núñez and from the Quinteto da Paraíba. Another regular collaborator, Dudu Falcão, is present with “É o que Me Interessa” which is on the Globo TV soap-opera “A Favorita” soundtrack.

Pedro Luis and A Parede (PLAP) work with Lenine on two of the Labiata tracks – “A Mancha” (Lenine/Lula Queiroga) and “É Fogo” (Lenine/Carlos Rennó). “While we were working on this new album, I was also producing the PLAP’s new CD. I wanted to do them together; all these interesting streams were coming together in such a way that we were doing these two albums at the same time”.

The album opens and closes with two compositions by Lenine himself: “Martelo Bigorna” and “Continuação”. “The first one is kind of autobiographical, because it is about the desire to follow your dream no matter what happens, and to know that you made the right choices because today you just know that the decisions you made were the right ones!” While “Martelo Bigorna” is a review of the past, “Continuação” is about what will then happen. And not for nothing – it’s all for his three sons João, Bruno e Bernardo. “It ends by saying ‘love, death continuation’. These are the themes we are constantly talking about, which is really about intimacy. I wanted to talk about these things – and I have”, Lenine says.

Do you also would like to share your opinion? If so, please register or login here.

Details

Popular Songs

New Songs

Lenine - Labiata