Agatha‘s musical trajectory is about to gain new colors and tones, bringing her long-awaited solo project to life. After the end of the band MTK last year, the artist saw a unique opportunity to rescue an old dream: her authorial career. With a talent not only for music, but also for composition and instrumentation, Agatha plunged headlong into 2022, a year that proved to be one of intense creation and self-expression.
The initial desire to release a set of songs that intertwined, guided by similar stories, soon expanded to something bigger: the construction of a complete album, giving rise to “Passatempo”, its musical firstborn. This debut album, set for October 20th, brings with it not just songs, but an immersive visual narrative.
It’s not just in music that Agatha excels; his passion for audiovisual is also present in the project. In addition to the tracks, “Passatempo” is accompanied by seven video clips that make up a short film, forming a set where each song is a part of a broader story. The intention is to take the listener’s experience beyond the sounds, allowing him to sink into the emotions woven by this cinematic narrative.
“Passatempo” presents itself as a mirror of Agatha, portraying the different nuances of her year 2022. From highs to lows, from joys to sadness, from reflections to learnings, each track is a page of her personal diary, a journey through her experiences and feelings.
The sound, meticulously produced in collaboration with his friend and music producer Mati, merges their influences and musical references. The album brings touches of indie pop and folk, with the steel guitar echoing in all tracks. This project, which can be framed in the emerging genre of “bedroom pop”, seeks simplicity, authenticity and connection with the listener. And more than a mere album, “Passatempo” is a milestone in Agatha’s creative journey, a reflection of her authenticity and proof that, for her, music is not just a job, but a genuine form of expression.
You mentioned that the “Passatempo” album is a personal achievement and tells the story of your year 2022. Can you share more about the experiences and events that inspired the creation of the songs?
The year 2022 was a complex year for me… I took the pandemic years a little badly, I couldn’t keep my head straight. So, I saw in 2022 the opportunity to turn some things upside down – the good way. And I turned around, shook off the internal dust and found a bunch of old dreams that I always wanted to come true and a bunch of versions of myself that I always wanted to be. And when you have nothing left to lose, that’s the best time to gamble and risk it all. And in this context of changing, becoming, rediscovering yourself, the album started to appear. I have always suffered from my anxiety and internalize my thoughts constantly. When I started to write the first words, I realized that they were songs that spoke of love for the experiences I went through during those months, but they were also like advice from Agatha to herself. From this idea came the main premise of the album: lyrics are subjective. They can mean whatever you want them to mean and that makes songs universal.
The decision to create a visual album and incorporate video clips is a very interesting one. How do you think this visual approach adds to the album’s narrative?
When I graduated from college, my final paper was on a Florence + The Machine visual album that was exactly that format and I was blown away while studying. I already loved the music album. When the visual element came, the songs gained a new layer of interpretation and even some doubts were answered. With “pastime” I wanted to express exactly this subjectivity of the lyrics that I mentioned and this internal dialogue of mine with myself. The film tells a little of my year 2022 summarized in ups and downs that would happen in a week of the life of any human being: insecurities, euphoria, regret, hope, melancholy. The audio brings a version of the story that is explained with the video and the choice to make a film, with scenes in between the video clips, was to bring even more elements to the viewers.
You mentioned that the album is divided into two parts. Is there a specific reason for this split and how do the two parts connect?
I feel that the “hobby” for me is like a season of the series of my life. I decided to divide it into two parts because I felt that my compositions for that moment in my life were complete, I had already managed to say what I wanted to say about those feelings, it was natural. But I felt that story wasn’t over yet… Like a movie or a series, there are spin-offs, there are character comebacks, there are twists… Since I was making the album almost simultaneously with what was happening in the my life, I decided to wait for this phase to come to fruition and start this second part as a new season, so much so that part 2 of the “hobby” is already being built with the feelings I’m feeling right now, at this exact moment. And I love that feeling, it’s impossible not to be true.
“Bedroom pop” is a genre that has grown a lot. How would you describe the sound of your album within that style? What musical elements can listeners expect to find?
“Bedroom pop” is nothing more than “bedroom” pop and my album was 100% written and produced in a bedroom! I wrote everything myself, with my guitar guiding me or looking for typebeats that spoke to my musical footprint at the moment to serve as a basis for creating. And when we went into production, everything screamed “bedroom pop”: I recorded all the acoustic guitars on the tracks with my producer holding the mic in his hand to get the best sound, using elements from the very house we were in to become elements within the song like forks and knives, the sound quality is not from big studios but the intention is precisely to sound like something from a single environment, but never unilateral, on the contrary, it is a multifaceted album. All this I discovered in the process and I understood that this is my place in music at this moment.
You brought your personal references, including indie pop and folk, to the album. How did you combine these musical influences in a unique way?
The steel guitar is one of my main instruments and you’ll hear it on every track. Right away, he already brings the texture of folk to the album. I heard a lot of Noah Kahan and Lizzy McAlpine these months and they were great sonic references. I’ve always consumed indie, whether national or international, so I enriched some tracks with that classic indie guitar and synthesizer timbre, like you hear in songs by The 1975, Terno Rei or The Neighbourhood. And what I think brings out the element of authenticity is the lyrics. I’ve heard a lot that the way I express feelings in lyrics is something unique, as it passes through my filter of my experiences. I use a lot of analogies and metaphors in my lyrics and I like to try to leave complex feelings that sometimes we can’t describe in something simpler,
The collaboration with music producer Mati seems to have been very significant. What was it like working together and how did you manage to combine your musical visions?
Mati is a complete artist: he writes, plays, produces, mixes, masters and has a source of references and absurd good taste in music. I think the fact ofour friendship being something light allowed this process to be the same way. He embraced the essence of the songs, not wanting to modify them to fit an x or y pattern. He brought his experience with production and this allowed the bases of all the songs to be ready in 7 days, in an immersion that we did in February of this year, in Porto Alegre. Everything he brought in his opinion was to add and elevate what the project already had good and that for me was the main point, to be able to take the songs to the world with the greatest fidelity of feelings possible.
Regarding your musical journey, how do you see the transition from your experience in the band MTK to your solo career? What are the main differences and challenges?
MTK was a wonderful adventure. I keep thinking about what it would have been like to take a risk on a solo career without MTK having happened and I think I would have been really screwed hahahaha. MTK was a period of fun and a laboratory for everything that involves the world of music, from the type of music you make to the negotiations that exist in the market. It was an easy transition because it was with love and gratitude for everything I experienced in these 4 years in the band. I think the main difference is the fact that I’m alone. There’s the freedom to decide everything for yourself but no longer have a shoulder to share the burden when things get tough – because they do eventually. But I see everything as a timeline, something I needed to live in order to live what I live today. I accumulated tools, created shell, increased my musical references, shared thousands of experiences, I made a lot of mistakes that I check myself today so I don’t make mistakes again. I couldn’t be more ready to go solo than I am right now and I hope the guys enjoy this transition as much as I do.
com Othereing imminent from the PrimeirThe shovelrtIt is ofthereboom in 10/20,withHow do you hope listeners connect with the songs and the story you’re telling?
The songs on the album talk about feelings that everyone feels. I’ve been saying that the album wasn’t made to hit EVERYBODY right now. He will hit whoever he has to hit. Maybe hit some in a few years. Because just as I identified with him at a given moment in my life, people can also identify with him at a given moment in their lives. He talks about the passage of time and as time goes by, things change, people change. Pain heals, new loves arise, people leave and the sky can lighten and darken in a matter of seconds. That whole perspective of time is part of the album. Hearing him this year will mean one thing and hearing him next year might mean another and I hope people give him this chance, for him to act as time does.
In addition to music, you are also a filmmaker and work with audiovisual. How do these two areas influence each other in your creative process?
I live my life with a soundtrack so that already explains a lot. And the opposite too! When I write a song, many times I already have a ready-made scene in my head. When I wrote the first song I knew I wanted a scene of me running from something – or towards something – and it was the first scene I wrote from the movie script that came with the album. It ends up being natural because it’s part of my mental process of living life and looking at it with this cinematic eye.
With this album being a personal achievement, what are your aspirations for the future of your music career? Is there something you want to achieve or explore through your music?
I feel that I achieved a lot of things that every artist dreams of in recent years, but I also felt the pain and reality of being an artist and becoming a product of the market. In this new musical phase, I decided to unlink the pressure of numbers and range because otherwise I would be being held hostage to it once again. And once I made that decision – and I remember it every day – I went back to looking at my music, my process and myself with kindness and care. And that’s what art needs, to be treated with love, to be watered with truth, to flourish. My biggest dream today is not something I want to achieve because it took me away from the “now moment”, always thinking ahead. But I think I would love for my music to do good for the listener, as it did for me as I got them out of my head and heart. May they serve as advice, a friendly shoulder, encouragement. May they give reasons and inspirations to take the step, to make it happen, to take risks. May they also guide you through your worst and best moments, may they be the words you needed to hear at that moment. The future remains uncertain, I change plans like I change clothes, I’m a Gemini hahaha! But music is something that is part of my mission here and I will always use this tool to get this message out there. You can expect a “hobby” part 2 soon and what comes next life itself will dictate – and that’s the best part lol. let them be the words you needed to hear at that moment. The future remains uncertain, I change plans like I change clothes, I’m a Gemini hahaha! But music is something that is part of my mission here and I will always use this tool to get this message out there. You can expect a “hobby” part 2 soon and what comes next life itself will dictate – and that’s the best part lol. let them be the words you needed to hear at that moment. The future remains uncertain, I change plans like I change clothes, I’m a Gemini hahaha! But music is something that is part of my mission here and I will always use this tool to get this message out there. You can expect a “hobby” part 2 soon and what comes next life itself will dictate – and that’s the best part lol.
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