Release date: 2009
Label: Humming Conch
Format: Vinyl
Some Rights Reserved
Insónia, Tiago’s fourth record, released by Humming Conch evoke not as much his inside knowledge and living of the highly remarkable first decade of the 21st century in portuguese indie or experimental music, but more so his discovery of luminaries such as Erik Satie, Terry Riley, Robbie Basho or Olivier Messiaen, as well as his readings of most of the Beat Generation masters, the political testimonies of H.D. Thoreau and the Situationists or the distant Eastern Philosophy.
An album which is almost exclusively fed by the piano, with drums and even some clarinet popping out every now and then, courtesy of guest musicians João Correia and Ricardo Ribeiro. Insónia, recorded in the beginning of the year by american sound-engineer and university teacher Geoffrey Mulder, and mastered by the renowned Taylor Deupree, who runs the 12k label, is, simultaneously, the record that one anticipated from Tiago (or which awaited Tiago), but also a surprising effort. It is, on one side, a certain pinnacle of the work Tiago had been developing, but it’s surprise lies in the fact that, in a way, nothing had anticipated such an accomplished and emotionally-charged record.
The steadiness of its markedly impressionistic meanderings, echoing Debussy or Chopin, and the savoir-faire with which it turns simple and small melodies into crafty hymns of spirituality and meditation, show that this is a nocturnal record, no doubt about that, but also reveal a morning splendor and vigor which materialize on the unstoppable and unresistant propelling of tracks like Passos, and hinted at on the several movements of the chosen single Folha Caduca or the opening track Movimento.
Compostions, Piano, Guitars and Organs by Tiago Sousa,
Clarinet by Ricardo Ribeiro,
Drums by João Correia
Produced by Tiago Sousa & João Correia,
Recorded by Geoffrey Mulder in a small bedroom at Barreiro,
Mixed by Tiago Sousa and Geoffrey Mulder in a tiny house at Bairro Alto, Lisboa.
Mastered by Taylor Deupree.
Cover Artwork by Pedro Lourenço