São Paulo-based shoegazers, Echo Upstairs, come from the ranks of other Brazilian indie and shoegaze bands, like Early Morning Sky, Lava Divers and Oruã. The band formed in 2018, and they are composed of Ana Zumpano (guitar, vocals), Bigu Medina (bass, vocals), Gilbert Spaceh (guitar) and Mauro Terra (drums).
Echo Upstairs broke out with their first single in July 2020, still, their plans for the recording of an EP were blocked by the lockdown. Their new standalone single, Clouds, releases through midsummer madness, and it comes with a visually hazy video which coincides with the music's ethereal dreampop fragility. The clip was directed by member of Brazilian bands Antiprisma and Bumbo Caixa, Elisa Moreira Oieno who came up with the idea of shooting a dance routine by Echo Upstairs' vocalist and guitarist, Ana Zumpano.
"I was very happy with the invitation to participate with backing vocals in the song, which I thought was beautiful and identified myself too much," Elisa comments on the video. "When Ana suggested we make a video for Clouds, I took it right away and did it the next day, literally. We thought about the costumes, make up, we worked on some references and she arrived with the performance just in time to record. We improvised everything, but it feels as everything was ready, we just materialized the whole thing. It was spontaneous, fun and intuitive process, and very fast. Working with her is always very inspiring."
The band's guitarist, Gilbert Spaceh, speaks of the song's collaborative process: "We couldn't be physically together but each one gave his soul to this single. This is not one person's song but a band's, one that trusts everyone and believes in what they do. Hardly someone comes with a song ready, and in the case of Clouds it wasn't different. I had created this riff in my previous band and it was not accepted. With Echo Upstairs, we started to work in some materials during pandemic phase, each one in his/her home. I recorded the song structure using only a cell phone. Then I sent it to the band and immediately everyone felt like part of the music, as if we were in presential rehearsal. Ana was in charge of making the magic by composing the lyrics and the melody."
The new single also features contributions by Rafael Bulleto (Neptunea, Antiprisma) on synthesizers, Elisa Moreira and DW Ribatski (Bumbo Caixa) on vocals, and Dennis Guedes (The Outs) who co-produced the track with Ana, and also mixed and mastered the track.
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