Walt Whitman wrote these words - ‘Would the singer attempt to sing?’ as part of the poem ‘Beat, beat, drums!’ in 1861 in the wake of the American Civil War. They really took on a special significance as I tried to make this project which has been in the works since late 2019 happen.
However, it’s finally here! After that not-só-small setback of a global pandemic, and the consequent massive amount of uncertainty, my lockdown baby has finally landed! I’m immensely proud of the work of the entire team involved and, for once in my life, I’m actually also giving myself some credit for pulling this whole thing together and managing to record my debut album during a global pandemic pretty much as a one-man operation (at least initially).
It’s a surreal thought that after not being able to exist as an artist for nearly 1 year, suddenly I’m on iTunes, Spotify, and disc shops. It’s exciting, but I’m not gonna lie, it’s also really terrifying to be exposing myself like this after being stuck in my house for the best part of a year. My hope is that the honesty and genuine love for this music which are at the base of this record come across to those listening to it.
The reason why this music matters to me goes much beyond a simple ‘I like to sing these songs’. These are stories about every-day people doing that tough job which is to simply live. Kurt Weill believed that anyone who lived deserved their story told and I believe in that as well. There are heroes and villains in our stories, but we all share that common trait which is our humanity and I think we all experienced just how fragile that humanity can be, and that’s what makes all our stories worth telling and worth being witnessed. There are no 1st class or 2nd class people: we’re all born the same way and we all end the same way. In their own unique way, every single song tells a compelling story about what it means to be human. If 2020 and 2021 have taught us something, it’s the value of life and just how fragile life also is. That’s why every single one of these stories deserve to be told.
A deeply felt thank you to Nuno Vieira de Almeida for his beautiful playing, to Susana Gaspar and Alberto Sousa for joining their wonderful voices, and to the creative and production team for joining all the dots and producing something we all hope you’ll enjoy. Last, but not least, thank you to Fundação GDA and to everyone who contributed to the the fundraising efforts which made all of this possible.
I really hope that the wealth of human experience that I tried to sing about in this album - from love, to war and loss, through grief, heartache, hope and redemption - comes across and reminds us all of our shared and very imperfect humanity.