Thievery Corporation have finished a new album called Saudade, a Portuguese word basically meaning "deep and profound longing" - although there is no exact translation to English. NPR Music says that musicians often equate saudade with "the blues" on their First Listen advance album stream. The album is set to be officially released on April 1st.
The album is heavily influenced by classic Brazilian bossa nova, with vocals in Portuguese, English, Italian, and French. The production is extremely lush, especially on songs like "No More Disguise," "Claridad," and "Depth of My Soul." The guitar, string, piano, and percussion sounds are pristine, and the vocals are gorgeous. On this album, several female lead vocalists each contribute to different songs. Those singers are frequent Thievery Corporation collaborator Lou Lou Ghelichkhani, as well as Elin Melgarejo, Nouvelle Vague singer Karina Zeviani, Natalia Clavier, and former Bitter:Sweet singer/songwriter Shana Halligan.
On their website, Garza and Hilton's specific influences are listed as "classic Brazilian performers like Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gal Costa, and Luis Bonfá—along with Serge Gainsbourg, Ennio Morricone, and more modern artists like electro-samba pioneer Isabelle." The album cover, with a distressed circle looking like a worn vinyl album cover, and the length of the album at 42 minutes show that Thievery Corporation are making a point of staying true to the pure classic records that influenced them.
The album is the most organic sounding album that the duo behind Thievery Corporation has ever done, with very little in the way of electronic production or studio trickery. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy Blog, Rob Garza explained the inspiration for the album, “This album is really about mine and Eric’s love of bossa nova music and jazz and cinematic soundtrack music from the late ’60s and early ’70s.” On the band's website, Eric Hilton says "We always try to progress into something different and stretch our musical chops, and taking a whole album to dive into this one sound seemed like a really great way to do that."
The album is available for pre-order at iTunes and Amazon
Thievery Corporation "Saudade" Tracklist:
| Name | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Décollage (feat. Lou Lou Ghelichkhani) | 3:23 |
| 2 | Meu Nego (feat. Karina Zeviani) | 3:21 |
| 3 | Quem Me Leva (feat. Elin Melgarejo) | 3:29 |
| 4 | Firelight (feat. Lou Lou Ghelichkhani) | 3:33 |
| 5 | Sola in Citta (feat. Elin Melgarejo) | 2:27 |
| 6 | No More Disguise (feat. Lou Lou Ghelichkhani) | 3:28 |
| 7 | Saudade | 2:08 |
| 8 | Claridad (feat. Natalia Clavier) | 3:44 |
| 9 | Nos Dois (feat. Karina Zeviani) | 3:03 |
| 10 | Le Coeur (feat. Lou Lou Ghelichkhani) | 3:04 |
| 11 | Para Sempre (feat. Elin Melgarejo) | 2:58 |
| 12 | Bateau Rouge (feat. Lou Lou Ghelichkhani) | 4:09 |
| 13 | Depth of My Soul (feat. Shana Halligan) | 3:23 |
