Eric Bê e o Avesso do Avesso – On August 14th, they released the single “Tereze,” a track that officially marked the beginning of a new phase for the group by combining rock, violin, and a narrative about freedom, identity, and resistance to judgment. Inspired by different women observed by the composer, the character who gives the song its name faces harassment, prejudice, and conservative expectations without giving up her autonomy. In an interview, the band discusses the creation of this protagonist, the collective process that defined their new artistic identity, and the search for a sound capable of balancing heaviness, delicacy, and different influences from Brazilian music.
“Tereze” is born from the freedom to be who you are, even in the face of judgment. At what point did you realize that this character could carry such a strong message about autonomy and identity?
From the very conception of the first chords and the first lines, none of Eric Bê’s solo songs had ever taken such a strong stance. So, when we decided to do a collaborative project as Eric Bê and Avesso do Avesso, the idea was to sing about what we believe in, even at the risk of displeasing many people.
The song’s protagonist lives an ordinary life: she works, takes public transportation, faces harassment, and still finds time to enjoy the beach before work. Why was it important to construct Tereze’s character based on such everyday gestures?
The idea wasn’t to present a heroine of the type that only exists in fiction. Perhaps no woman is 100% Tereze, but many will probably find themselves in some characteristic of the character. And men, when singing Tereze’s songs, we imagine they will glimpse other women they admire.
The song portrays a woman judged by her appearance, tattoos, opinions, lifestyle, and issues related to gender and sexuality. What does Tereze reveal about the discomfort that female freedom still provokes?
Perhaps Tereze can help us understand that societies evolve towards a more libertarian and progressive scenario, and then return to seeking tradition and rejecting gestures, practices, etc., when they forget that repression causes pain. The path of conservatism seems cyclical.
You define the band’s sound as “rock with fury and delicacy.” How does this contrast appear in “Tereze,” especially in the encounter between heavier guitars and layers of violin?
Our band is quite diverse… Even though we’re a small group, we have men, women, white and black people, we have self-taught musicians, classically trained musicians, and Eric, who strives to reach the others. In rehearsals, Eric brings up rock references, saying, “Listen to this to inspire the arrangements of this song,” and the songs are built from furious references, but in the hands of musicians who could transform punk into jazz without offending punk or jazz musicians.
This is the first release conceived, arranged, and recorded by the band’s current lineup. What changed when Eric Bê e o Avesso do Avesso ceased to be an extension of his solo career and began to establish itself as a collective project?
This was a natural progression, because this same band had already been accompanying Eric on his solo shows, even though they hadn’t participated in the recordings.
Now, when producing an album with new songs, the arrangement was a collective effort, which meant modifying the style of some tracks and even discarding others. In a solo project, things end up being done with a lot of technical input from the musician, but without that freedom to veto or transform the composition.
The composition emerged spontaneously, starting with the guitar riff that opens the song. What was it like to witness the character, melody, and lyrics being born almost simultaneously during the creative process?
There are many ways to create, and Eric’s songwriting process usually involves creating harmony and melody simultaneously, with the first version of the lyrics emerging at the same time. I think the real magic happens in the studio… in the case of Tereze, for example, some of the band members thought the song would be too heavy, so we played it, recorded it, listened to it, and… it was heavy, but we loved it.
“Tereze” is part of a broader concept in which different characters move through the symbolic universe of water. What do images like the sea, river, and rain help you to say about transformation, emotion, and freedom?
The song that inspired the album is called “Ilha Feia” (Ugly Island), which is an island off the coast of Santa Catarina. The song was composed at the turn of the year from 2025 to 2026, when the moon was setting on the island and the sea. From this image and the turn of the year came the desire to compose an old-fashioned album, one that would be a pleasure to listen to in its entirety, that would have a connection between the songs, and that would reflect our thoughts on life. How to connect one song to another without writing songs that are too similar? In addition to the rhythm and vibe of the songs, which build and then recede, we understood that it would be symbolic to have water as an element that adapts and connects each fragment of the album. In some songs, like “Ilha Feia,” water appears literally and explicitly. In others, it appears in passing, and also implicitly as the element of adaptability.
The animation developed by the Molho Crocante studio transforms Tereze into an illustrated character and expands on the cover art. What was it like to see this woman, who was born in the form of a song, gain a visual body within the band’s universe?
That’s really cool! I think the cover art produced by the Marã Música team came a little earlier, based on the song itself and a composite sketch of Tereze. Then, the video brought the character to life, and we loved it.
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