BRUNO PERNADAS - Interview

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Tell us about Bruno Pernadas.

BRUNO PERNADAS

I'm a musician, composer, arranger and producer born in Lisbon, Portugal in the '80s. I've studied Classic Guitar and then Jazz at the Hot Club of Portugal, and I got a degree in Music by the Superior School of Music of Lisbon in the Jazz department. I've been working as a professional musician since the early 2000s, touring with several bands, mainly in Portugal, although I had the privilege to perform my music in different countries, such as Japan, Spain and France.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Talk to us a bit about your (2016 Release) "Those Who Throw Objects at the Crocodiles Will Be Asked to Retrieve Them."

BRUNO PERNADAS

My band mates and I recorded "crocodiles" on the cold winter of 2015 in Lisbon, the conditions were not perfect, since we recorded the album in a warehouse converted into a studio, so it was freezing all the time, and most of the tracks were recorded during the night period.

The other half of the album was recorded at my house, on my own, using some low budget equipment and a SK10 Synth that I really wanted to use on the record. The great majority of the songs were composed during that some year, except for "galaxy" which I originally composed for a Big Band, and then re-arranged it for a different ensemble, using a brass section that included a flute, flugelhorn and alto sax, combined with a rhythm section, voices and Synthesizers.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

After researching, many individuals felt a special connection with the song "Ya Ya Breathe." Can you tell us a bit about the track?

BRUNO PERNADAS

Yes, and it was kind of a surprise for me, a brief period after the album was released, I've started to get several messages from people around the world, (I still do), saying wonderful things about the song, actually that was one of the reasons why I started to include "ya ya breathe" in the live performances.

The song started as a love letter combined with some folk music elements, but then as the pre-production gained a more solid body, I recorded the demo in one row. It worked so good that I left all of the good stuff there, the low-budget guitars, distorted voices, the original poem, in the end, percussion and a lot of noise from the streets as well. I think of this song as a journey that started with a love folk song that somehow turned a different direction into something more mysterious and beautiful that even I can't explain very well.

But in the end, I was thinking of what real witches could have said to the person I was thinking of, sort of like a path that needs to be crossed in order to get somewhere else.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Recently, you released visuals for the track' Theme Vision,' we love the unique visuals throughout the piece.

Were the animal masks symbolic in the performance?

BRUNO PERNADAS

Yes, somehow.

I used the same masks in the first photo shoot in 2014, I liked the idea of not knowing who is what and just focusing on the music, and since I've been using some animal figures on my art collages, it did make a lot of sense to merge these visuals with the music.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Tell us about your release Private Reasons (2021)

BRUNO PERNADAS

It was supposed to be released in 2020, but then the pandemic hit us all, and I had to postpone it to 2021, which in the end was a good thing because I had more time to work on the arrangements. I wanted to produce a record with no limits regarding the genres and stylistic approach of each song, combining all these different elements into a music piece.

The length was not something I really thought much about, or even the main language I suppose.  I used string arrangements for the first time on one of my records, which is something that I'm used to working with when I compose for performing arts and cinema, but not in my records, so this was the first one. I also used my voice as the lead vocal and a lot more digital sounds. "Step out of the light" was one of the most difficult songs I ever recorded, At first I did not think that it was going to be that hard for the musicians to perform during the live recording, but in the end it all worked just fine.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Since there are so many moving parts in your tracks, it requires various instruments & talented individuals for live performances.

Do you find it challenging to coordinate live performances?

BRUNO PERNADAS

It depends on the song, but yes, it can be quite challenging sometimes. I used to perform with a nine-piece ensemble, but nowadays I perform with a septet or sextet.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What would you like listeners to take away from your music?

BRUNO PERNADAS

Don't know, really.

Maybe the melodic element combined with all those mysterious sounds and genres.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Tropical birds seem symbolic for many of your album art/visuals. Could you elaborate a bit on their inclusion?

BRUNO PERNADAS

My artwork and music has always found their own way into the universe of Exotica, and birds are a big part of that colorful imaginary world.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Your music mixes genres from electronic to pop to jazz and so much in between. Why do you choose to genre mix so frequently?

BRUNO PERNADAS

I don't think of music as a melting pot for different genres, for me it's just colors, melodies and emotions. Of course, music genres are very important guidelines for the history of music through all the centuries, and it helps us organize our thoughts.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What's next for Bruno Pernadas?

BRUNO PERNADAS

I had a lot of commissions these last years, writing for orchestras, small ensembles, producing albums, TV and cinema. So I'll probably produce one more album for a single artist and then start to work on a new record of mine.

I'm also trying to be able to tour with my band in North America next year, not an easy job.

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ARTIST LINKS: BANDCAMP - SPOTIFY - WEBSITE - INSTAGRAM