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Artists reviews Labirinto post-rock band releases new album "Anatema" featured on The Guardian

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Brazilian post-rockers Labirinto release first album “Anatema” worldwide on deluxe CD and double vinyl With seven years of activity, the São Paulo based group releases its ambitious project Anatema, which took two years in the making. The 10-minute-plus songs, conceived by guitar player Erick Cruxen, were shaped and arranged in studio, where him and drummer Muriel Curi handled the production as real watchmakers.

The band is in the forefront of the Brazilian burgeoning post-rock scene. Multi-instrumentalists Daniel Fanta and Joaquim Prado complete the group’s line up on this album, as well as the musician Nathan Bell playing the banjo, and other guests playing sitar, violin and cello.

The couple Erick and Muriel gained experience working in their own studio, Dissenso. It was not by chance that sound engineer Greg Norman, who has worked with post-rock staples Pelican and Russian Circles, and was responsible for the mixing of Anatema, was amazed by the band’s recordings and brought the project to partner Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studios, in Chicago. Shellac’s Bob Weston was in charge of the mastering.

Anatema is a vigorous conceptual opus without an ending or beginning. The six songs are linked to one another and take the listener on a rollercoaster ride through a range of swirling sensations. The music of Labirinto is a visual and sensorial one, acquiring colors as the instrumentation evolves into suggestive and unexpected soundscapes.

The agonizing minimalism of “Reverso” is entwined with sharp guitar textures that astound by its technical accuracy. The dense layers of guitars highlight the extraordinary maneuvers of “Chromo” and the emotional crescendo of “Incendiários” evokes folk music and Scandinavian heavy metal. The minimalism is converted into a burst on “Huo Yao”, changes of tempo plummet all over “Flagelo” like an anvil into the listener’s head and the title track amplifies the concept in which it is built, where serene passages are contrasted by a rising tension and sudden slashes lead to the end and the beginning at the same time.

After four EPs and compilations, Labirinto releases Anatema in grand style on Dissenso Records, with deluxe packaging and international distribution. On CD, each song gets a specific booklet featuring artwork by João Ruas, cover artist of the famed comic “Fables”. On double vinyl the illustrations come in full-size print inside the gatefold sleeve.

With their record release and upcoming tours in the USA and Europe, it will not be surprising if Labirinto ends up as a highlighter of the global post-rock scene. The curse is cast.

by Marcos Bragatto, September 2010

“Epic, dark post-rock is at the core of Sao Paulo-based band Labirinto, whose first full-length album is
already one of the best Brazilian releases of 2010 and is also remarkable due to its gorgeous artwork….”
The Guardian (Meio Desligado) – Nov/2010

“… an epic post-rock album in the truest sense of the word – six songs, 70 minutes running time, but none of it wasted.”
Rock-A-Rolla magazine (Anthony Balaqua) – Oct/2010

“They are built to take the post-rock world by storm”
The Sillent Ballet (Stephan Sherman) – Oct/2010

Labirinto ::
Email: hello@labirinto.mus.br
Telephone: +55 011 9510-2219
Website: www.labirinto.mus.br
EPK: www.labirinto.mus.br/epk
 

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