Malbec

Malbec is composed by Zé Cardoso (voice and guitar), Ian Fonseca (voice, piano and bass), Silvio Romano (bass and guitar), Leo Garcia (guitar) and Natan Fonseca (drums). The order in the band, formed in Manaus in 2008, is for creation, self-production, and also connectivity to the modern ways of music distribution. For this reason the band chose to produce itself all their material - since the live recorded Primeira Marcha EP, March of 2009, until the first album, Paranormal Songs, June 2012.
For this Malbec has the participation of its own keyboardist, Ian Fonseca, who also serves as an independent music producer in Manaus, responsible for the production and recording of works by other bands from the local scene - "Rockcídio" EP, of the band Aliases (2008), "Songs from the Heat and Sunburn" EP musician Raphael Souza (2012) - besides the collaboration of renowned professionals in the internacional music scene. The mixing of the album Paranormal Songs was handled by Victor Rice, who has worked with artists such as Easy All-Stars, Marcelo Camelo and Mallu Magalhães, and mastering was signed by Joe Lambert who has worked with Animal Collective, Panda Bear, The National, besides having been nominated for a Grammy.
In addition, the band has a own studio which serves as a space for the recording of their work. "It took us a while to acquire the equipment needed to mount it. In the meantime, however, we focus on writing and refining our songs, so far as we can use it to record Paranormal Songs" says Ian.

To Zé Cardoso a major concern of Malbec regards is the access to this new material. "We want this to happen in a fairly facilitated. We offer our entire discography for free on our official website, we are compressing this material both in CD format as Vinyl and both will be sold at our shows basically at cost price, for does not focus profit this first moment: we really want to introduce ourselves and let those who are interested have the material" said the singer.

HISTORY

Malbec has begun through motivation of three friends who played in another band - Ian Fonseca, Leonardo Garcia and Silvio Romano were members of Mezatrio a five-year period (2003 - 2007).
Together with three more musician friends, the sextet of Mezatrio became one of the leading exponents of the local scene, acquiring the admiration of new public, praises from critics and participating in some of the most important independent festivals of Brazil, such as: Calango (2006 - Cuiabá, MT), Se Rasgum in Rock (2007 - Belém, PA); Varadouro (2007 - Rio Branco, AC); Bananada (2007 - Goiânia, GO); Fora do Eixo (2007 - São Paulo, SP) and others.
The musical and personal proximity of the three dissident members of Mezatrio were the guiding factor for strengthening the will to create a project of their own. The band has won the support of Eusélio Cardoso (ex Carpe Diem). There Malbec was born.
Already as a quintet, with the first drummer, Felipe dos Santos, the group began meeting to compose, changing tastes and musical references. Between late 2008 and early 2009, Malbec has embarked on his first venture - the live EP "Primeira Marcha", recording audio and video in Supersonic Studio on January 5, 2009, and distributed for free via the band's myspace (audio) and Malbec's official channel on YouTube (video). This material was produced and mixed by Ian Fonseca. Finally, in 2009, the band's lineup was completed with the input of Natan Fonseca (ex Mona Lisa Plug), assuming the drums.
Between 2010 and 2012, with the resources managed by winning three public awards - Department of Culture, Municipal Foundation for Culture and Arts (ManausCult) and Ministry of Culture - Malbec can invest in the recording of their first album. Paranormal Songs was made during those two years - between compositions, recordings and finalizing the material, until it was finally released on June 14, 2012. The album was recorded entirely in the band's home-studio in Manaus, mixed by Victor Rice at Studio El Rocha in São Paulo and mastered by Joe Lambert at Joe Lambert Mastering in New York.

INFLUENCES

Radiohead;
Wilco;
Jeff Buckley;
The Smiths;
Talking Heads;
Mogwai;
Sigur Rós;
Portishead;
Grizzly Bear;
Dirty Projectors;
Björk;
Beck;
Os Mutantes;
Caetano Veloso.