Formed by three of the most active protagonists of the new generation of experimental musicians in Portugal, the trio Não (“No” in English, a term chosen precisely because it should be used more often) proposes in “Arcana” a musical vision born in the crossroads of what seems to be industrial rock and what seems to be free jazz (it’s never clear). Poli-instrumental in its nature, with keyboards, synthesizers and a drum machine inhabiting the saturated sound spectrum with a tenor saxophone and an electric guitar, the music here proposed is the syncretic next step of several styles and tendencies in urban music today: you can relate it either to exploratory electronic music or to progressive groove, but they do it in the same exact compositions. If your understanding of these parameters is what you hear from Supersilent, forget it – what distinguishes Não is the crude way they get to the point. There’s no cosmic trips or psychedelic introspections over a beat line, but a very honest, in-your-face, almost punk-ish, dramatization of a nightmare, each minute coming with a surprise. When you expect something to follow, Alexandre Vaz, João Silva and Vasco Marques trick you and choose some other path. Are you prepared for this dark kind of aural beauty?

All compositions by Nao

Recorded at ‘Scratch Built’, June 24, 2018 | Sound engineering: John Klima | Mix and mastering: Nuno Morão
Produced by Nao | Executive production by Travassos for Trem Azul | Design & artwork by Travassos