Oruã - "México Suite"

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Photo by Beeau Gomez

Oruã are a Brazilian band that include Lê Almeida and João Casaes who temporarily joined Built to Spill after Doug Martsch saw the band in 2019. Their latest single, "México Suite," is the style of indie rock song where you never quite know what's coming next. The song starts off slow with a heavy and noisy groove. It's hypnotic, and if the song stayed like its beginning, it would be a great song. And then the disjointed noise comes in, and while the song doesn't end up sounding like Built to Spill, it's going to appeal to fans of the long time band. "México Suite" continues evolving over the course of it's five and a half minute length ending in an extended jam session, and while it feels longer, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Oruã have just packed an awful lot into this killer single.

L Almeida says of the band's latest single:

“In December of 2023, after an Oruã US tour, I traveled to Cancún, Mexico, to accompany my partner Melanie Radford. Together we were going to perform a set of ambient music in a yoga session and Mel was also going to play with Built to Spill–it was all part of a huge Wilco festival in a big resort.

"When we arrived, I was unfairly sent to a room at the airport where they claimed irregularities with my passport, but everything was OK. I was detained for a whole night in a room with several other immigrants (none of whom were white). The next day they sent me back to the United States and from there I took another flight to Brazil. The festival did absolutely nothing to help me and it's quite possible that they didn't realize how serious the situation was. A few months after the event, I wrote this song as an outburst, without any fear or remorse about reopening such a painful and intense wound.

"'Mexico Suite' is a questioning of some of the injustices that are so present and alive in the life of an artist traveling the world to spread his art. After developing a project for an artist's residency in a peaceful and calm environment, the situation in Mexico hit hard and instigated even more struggles about racial and social equality. It is still extremely necessary to question white privilege. 'Mexico Suite' is about questioning, about self-respect and having courage."

You can watch the video for "México Suite" below. Slacker is due out November 16 on K Records, and is available to pre-order here. For more on Oruã, check out the band's website.

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