New York, USA. May 6th, 2020.     

On February 18th I left Brazil again. After nearly two years of preparation, anxiety, immigration conundrums and a lot of songwriting, I finally came back to the United States in the hopes of putting this band on the road. My final destination was to be Los Angeles once again, a place where I made a lot of friends, built a lot of dreams and shattered a lot of my fears. Also built a couple of new ones. But chance brought me to the other side of the country. After a ten-day stay in Boston to visit a longtime friend, I came to New York City. The city that never sleeps. Until, two weeks later…it fell asleep. And for the dreariest of reasons. 

I found myself sleeping in yet another friend's couch, facing the first North American wave of this global pandemic, as it hit one of the world's most vibrant cities. I had the chance to get to know around, make some friends and even perform a couple of times. And for that, I am deeply grateful. Seeing a fully-functioning New York City before the lockdown, was both a privilege and a nightmare. For now I know how beautiful, cruel, hectic, unforgiving and magical it was before all the doors were closed. And now the bridges leading nowhere hurt deeper than it should. 

Ending a song and saying "Thank you New York City" to an audience was an old dream of mine. And I'm glad I was able to fulfill just this one before many others were tainted. With friends and family in Brazil, many cities in Europe and many others in the US, I watched as people realized what was actually going on in many different stages. I saw different levels of denying and received multiple empty messages of "it will be ok". As it happens I've always been too rational for my own sake and never been a man of faith. Early on I saw what awaited my plans and the music industry as a whole. And I started brewing a feeling yet unnamed to me. I found out that my passion was never the music itself. Was what it generated in people and how it moved them when they gathered to watch it being performed. And live music was one of the first industries to go down and it will, most certainly, be one of the last ones to get back up. 

It's been a little more than two months here, fifty of those days kept safe inside an apartment in Bushwick. I have thought of leaving, I have thought of giving up and I have thought of becoming someone else. But for another countless time, my obsession kept me going and I am finally finding a way to keep doing this. Of keeping this (oh no, he's doing it again!) daydream alive. The feedback from The Death of Art 's release has been fueling some old ideas. And I have all of you to thank. I've been searching through my files and I came to the conclusion that much of what I've recorded in the pre-production stages are worthy of seeing the light of day. Fortunately I don't write mock lyrics and I don't settle for poorly recorded takes. So, stay tuned…for we will be releasing some other songs in the near future. If you keep supporting us, it might become a full-length album with physical copies in the unknowing future. 

A few notes on this whole situation: 

• As of now, the lineup for these next songs will remain Tiago, Marcelo, Benhur and Thiago. We don't know what will happen in the future, but you can look at it as the 2020 lineup; 
• I need keyboards for these songs. We've always worked with different keyboard players so, if you want to collaborate, send me an email to tiagoma7@gmail.com;
• We are an independent band now. This means that every time you stream or buy The Death of Art and all the forthcoming songs, all the revenue comes directly to us; 
• We have made The Death of Art available with the Pay What You Want option in our Bandcamp and our website. If you're somehow inclined to support us, feel free to buy the song for what you think it's worth; 
• If you want to support the band even further, we've added a "donate" button on the homepage of our website. Likewise, everything you donate, comes to us, in order to keep making theses next singles available; 
• Please, stop asking when we'll release a new album. I don't have an answer for that and this is the feasible format for the time being. I want another full-length released as much as you do.  

Thanks for sticking around. Stay safe, sane and informed, please. I love you all. 
Keep on daydreaming, 

Tiago.     

_____    

What I'm listening to in this fragment of time: City Burials by Katatonia  
What I'm watching in this fragment of time: Midsommar by Ari Aster
What I'm reading in this fragment of time: Complete Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe