Bruna Pena, a singer and songwriter from Curitiba, dives between electronic, pop and indie in the enveloping and sensual “Get Me In The Wind”. The track is a reflection between the ephemeral and the perennial and consolidates one of the hallmarks of the artist’s work: representing the sensations of a generation in search of connection, with the external world and also with the internal one. The song arrives with a lyric video.
The new single comes to add to a career that began in 2009 in the bands Janela Oval and Hot Beigal Shop and also includes work as a screenwriter and director at Salted Films. Since 2022, the artist has been revealing a series of novelties where her three sides – musical, lyrical and visual – meet in an unprecedented way.
Bruna Pena is ready to present her most intense, visceral and sincere songs to the public, with mixing and mastering by Vivian Kuczynski. The new tracks are now available for streaming via Dorsal Musik. Check out the interview!
Fluctuating between electronic, pop and indie, her new song “Get Me In The Wind” reflects on the ephemeral and the evergreen. How has the reception been in relation to the public and how was the history of this song?
People have commented that the song is reminiscent of a race. And for me this song is a race between time and wind. The wind from my mother’s land, which has already messed up the hair of many women in my family, and the weather that brings new knowledge and challenges us to change and chart routes not expected by those who came before us. I think it’s a little bit about this quest to recognize in myself what remains of this ancestral genetic load and choose which values and beliefs I want to keep, which ones I want to get rid of.
This being one of the main characteristics that his work has been carrying, is the representation of the sensations of a generation in search of connection with the external and internal world. In the current moment of society, do you miss these human connections?
I feel that there is a quest, at least in my bubbles, to create these connections, to get to know each other better, but that it is a constant struggle against a system that benefits from this lack of connection. Advertising, blockbusters, social networks, the “work market”, agribusiness, this whole system based on consumption and unbridled growth, creates smokescreens for our perception of ourselves and others. It doesn’t give us time to create those connections. Which is perfect for maintaining these same systems, because when we are disconnected, we are vulnerable, more manipulable, controllable, influenceable. We buy more, we follow more orders, we don’t question, we don’t change the world.
Before following a solo career, you participated in bands like Janela Oval and Hot Beigal Shop. What moments do you remember most from your group career and what was the main difference you noticed when following your solo projects?
I remember the first studio rehearsal, the first plane trip, people choosing songs from the repertoire, imagining photo shoots. But the most intense thing is when they play a song that was part of the setlist and I’m flooded with the feelings I felt playing years ago.
In a group you share the struggles and also the joys, but you also submit more – even more so as a woman. All decisions are negotiated, which requires patience and a high level of argumentation. When you go to a channel to enhance your work, it’s great, because the critical level increases and you build better and better things. But sometimes the channel is a little picky and that sucks for everyone.
In my solo project the butterflies in my stomach are greater, there is no one with whom I can share the risks of an investment that goes wrong, of a lyric that may be misinterpreted, of a show that flops. But I have a giant creative freedom and I can determine the time for things to happen, I don’t have to negotiate, convince or give up an idea. So solo is not alone, because you exchange with producers, with designers, other composers, musicians, etc.
In addition to music, you also had a stint in the cinematographic universe, becoming a screenwriter and director at Salted Films. How did cinema and music come together in your life? What came first?
Impossible to say who came first, because I was passionate about music and cinema since I was a little girl. I grew up watching movies on the weekends with my dad, we’d go to the video store and I’d go crazy between all those little boxes of stories. Music came to me through playing the guitar at my maternal grandmother’s house and listening to records and taking out inserts to sing with my mother. Music and cinema came together when I started creating videos for the bands I played for, not just music videos, but teaser videos to publicize concerts, sessions, etc.
Over the past year, you’ve been demonstrating resourcefulness in the musical, lyrical and visual sides of your life, both coming together in an unprecedented way. In your opinion, are both able to contribute to the evolution of art in general?
Of course, one enhances the other. In my case, this specialization thing doesn’t work very well, I learn about cinema by listening to music, I read poetry and I learn about screenwriting. Things intersect and one gives insight into the other. I imagine a heart drawn on a paper and this paper being crumpled and uncrumpled in stop motion and then there’s a “tu dum, tu dum” in my ear and a song is born together with a video clip, you know? Everything is connected here inside my head.
Defined as a more intense, visceral and sincere approach to her songs, her new songs are being mixed and mastered by Vivian Kuczynski. How has the partnership been between you?
It was my first contact with music production and mixing and mastering in a more direct way, Vivian explained a lot of what it was and was super sensitive and generous with my work. She brought spatiality to the songs and each of their elements and I learned to understand by ear, by feeling, (not just rationally) this path of sound through space.
Regarding your career plans, what do you have projected for the future, in the short and long term?
I’m working on new compositions and putting together a show with original compositions together with Henrique Geladeira, sound technician, guitarist and music producer. At the same time, I’m producing a new single with Erica Silva, Mulamba’s music producer and bassist, which will feature several singers from Paraná. This single will be accompanied by very interesting audiovisual material, a mixture of a documentary and a music video with the participation of several female directors. I also wanted to tour and take the sound to various places in the country, being able to meet and meet other sounds along the way.
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