Ricardo Dias Gomes - Aa (2018)

A respected innovator on the Rio de Janeiro music scene since the mid 90s, Gomes is best known for his work on the trio of critically-acclaimed albums Caetano Veloso released in the late 00s: Cê (2006), Zii and Zie (2009) and Abraçaço (2012). Playing bass on these modern milestones in post-Tropicalia, and subsequently touring the world with Veloso, inspired Gomes to record his debut album -11, released in 2015. On -11 Gomes played all the instruments himself and relied solely on his instincts in terms of the direction to take: The Wire praised the album saying it “recalls other rough and ready highly personal solo debut albums by Laetitia Sadier and Money Mark” whilst the Chicago Reader fell for it’s “weirdly hermetic sound world, alternating between tender, introspective ballads, rude electronic grooves, and dissonant ambience”.Gomes now lives in Lisbon and is about to release mini-album Aa – featuring Arto Lindsay – via SDZ records in Europe and Kill Shaman in North America in September.