We almost didn’t release this EP. For nearly a year it lived in drafts and rough edges, and one of us could always find a reason to wait a little longer — a flat note, the hiss you can hear underneath everything, the urge to re-record a vocal, to line up expectations with the producers and musicians involved. But that delay, and all those questions, are exactly what helped us find the way we want to work.
The first day we walked into Trampolim Estúdio and saw the complex — along with Tori Estúdio — we were floored. It’s a singular place, full of stories, the kind that dares you to make something. Tori holds a collection of synthesizers that leaves any music lover slack-jawed. Just being there was already an experience; the place leaves a mark on you. What we couldn’t have imagined is that we’d get the chance to play our own songs.
At the head of Tori Estúdio — which used to be the Synthesizer Museum — is André Heidi, the person who made this partnership happen; without him, this project wouldn’t have taken this shape. He gave us the chance to record some guide tracks we had, and to play our songs live for one of Trampolim’s producers, Fábio Barros, and one of its audio engineers, Elimarky Filho. Between us: it was a tense moment, but we kept our cool. When we finished playing, they invited us to record there. Dora and I had been together only a few months; we already had the idea for the project and a handful of songs — but hearing that was out of this world. We left unable to wipe the smiles off our faces, two “fools” laughing at everything and dreaming up the world.
A year passed between those first recordings and now — a year in which Ludus and this EP really took shape. We did much of the work remotely: endless messages and a few sessions at Trampolim. Fábio Barros is a sensitive, curious, original producer, with a way of making things happen that’s all his own. You can hear how much he gave to these songs — every bounce that came back carried the track somewhere we hadn’t imagined, yet somewhere we felt it was always meant to go. He also happens to have two Grammys as a sound engineer. Working with him was a privilege.
The songs came naturally between us — Luís and Dora carry a musical, artistic effervescence that completes itself. The first one we wrote was Na Beira do Amor; maybe it was exactly where we were. The first chords and lines arrived in the living room, on a blue-lilac couch. The second was Céu Sorrindo, which began at a sunset on the rocks of Barra da Lagoa, in Florianópolis, when we asked ourselves what the note C might smell like. The EP is a portrait of two artists joined together: every song is made as one, and carries both of our eyes.
The feeling is one of deep gratitude. This is Ludus’s first EP out in the world, and having made it this way made it all the more special.
A huge thank you to Trampolim and Tori Synth Estúdio for the opportunity, and to André Heidi, Fábio Barros, and Elimarky Filho — it was incredible to work with you.
