April Marmara - Still Life (2023)

April Marmara, launches her new album on the 14th of April. From this “Still Life”, which has the seal of the new label Lay Down Recordings, the themes “Who Knows Where the Love Goes”, “Shell” and “Dead Flowers” are already known.

These 3 songs have already introduced us and opened the door a little to this new April Marmara LP, showing us the ambiguity of an artist who attentively observes the passage of time, but who in no way sits passively on its sidelines , without interacting with it.

‘Still Life’ is an album written with time. They are songs written about the contemplation of nature, the sensitivity of the passage of time and about the stories that I discover and write. They are also about exile and my thoughts. It was during the recording of this album that I realized the power, the energy of making music and the huge hole it fills in my life. “Still Life” is my statement as an artist. It's an album that embarks on so many people who helped push it forward and who support it.”
In the words of April Marmara.

This new album is a deep dive into isolation, loneliness, the quality of human relationships and, above all, one's relationship with nature and one's own place in this world. It is a maturation in relation to the debut work “New Home” (2018), both spiritually and artistically. “Still Life” is an 8-track collection filled with cinematic soundscapes and pictorial lyrics.
Upon listening, we are immediately invited to enter a calm trance, which takes shape in the hypnotic guitar riffs, only to be occasionally interrupted by the comfort of a beautiful cello or clarinet melody. And, of course, the always strange and unique quality of Beatriz Diniz's voice.

All 8 songs were created by April Marmara herself and the arrangements were written and produced in collaboration with Afonso Cabral (You Can’t Win Charlie Brown; Bruno Pernadas; Minta & The Brook Trout). The album was mixed by Eduardo Vinhas between Estúdios da Estrela and Namouche in Lisbon. Final touches came from Canada with mastering by Philip Shaw Bova (Angel Olsen; Andy Shauf; Bahamas).

April Marmara continually pushes the boundaries of what folk music means, mixing influences from English folk artists like Nick Drake or Vashti Bunyan with Portuguese folk heroes like Fausto Bordalo Dias. With a range of globally diverse instruments such as the acoustic guitar, the adufe (traditional Portuguese percussion), and even the Indian tablas and harmonium.