The cover of À Deriva should probably come with the following warning: Attention, a strange beauty lies within! Visão
An album full of surprises. The beauty of À Deriva consumes all our senses. One of the most notable records of the year. Jornal de Negócios
Neither rock, nor fado, but everything and more, and certainly very Portuguese. A real breath of fresh air. Jornal de Letras
A very exciting new project. A strange but familiar sound, both sad and seductive. Visão
A deeply electronic sound full of marching rhythms and Portuguese guitar. Epic songs flowing with maritime imagery. Blitz
Music inspired by fado and pop with songs that depart from the shores of Portugal and dance across the deep blue ocean. Blitz
A fearless brand of music in which rock and fado creates a range of imaginary fields and hypnotic environments. Expresso
The long-awaited debut album by one of Portugal’s most promising new bands. A positive mix of urban rock and modern fado. Time Out
The Band
Lisbon band Novembro is the creation of the talented composer, singer and Portuguese guitar player, Miguel Filipe.
When he’s not writing the words and music of Novembro’s music, Miguel Filipe works as a graphic designer and illustrator whose chief inspiration comes from the science fiction environments of computer games, movies and cartoons. He’s a true fan of the sonorous sounds of low-fi music.
The album also features the drumming and percussion of Londoner Mark William Harding, LuÃs Aires on bass guitar (a member of Rodrigo Leão’s renowned Cinema Ensemble). Gil recently joined the band on lead guitar.
Project
On hearing Novembro for the first time, we immediately know that the band is deeply rooted in Portuguese musical culture. The voice is unusual and the Portuguese language is poetic and lyrical. The traditional sound of the Portuguese guitar is accompanied by sudden bursts of distorted guitars and the minimalist rhythms of the drums, giving us the feeling that each part of every song on the album is pure Portuguese sentiment.
The band enhances this impression with a very strong visual image, both graphically and on video.
À Deriva was co-produced by Tiago Lopes, a well-known musician and producer for Rodrigo Leão. The keyboards of Rodrigo Leão feature on the songs Esperança Enganadora and Solidão a Dois (instrumental), while Guto Pires provides the inspirational guitar melodies on Suspensão.
Besides his additional role as Novembro’s graphic designer (cover, illustrations, etc.), Miguel Filipe also directed the band’s first video clip for the hit song, Solidão a Dois, a fully computerised animation which, in his own words, ‘relates a journey through destroyed cityscape of a post-nuclear and post-chaos Lisbon’.
