Millhanas releases today album created under the influence of Nick Cave and Godard

“Surto”, the second album by the singer and composer of 24 years, begins with a theme, “Intro”, which is a chronological trip to the place where Milhanas is today, which is, in the words of the singer, “a place of great curiosity”.

“ I wanted to begin with how I realized the ‘Sound of Shadow’ [opening album, edited in 2023] in its entirety, which is a chronological journey through my life. I wanted to start this new phase, this new cycle, with this little note, almost those references that nobody notices, but to which I like to pay attention. It is that song that returns to its origin, but that already shows that the path has another perspective ", shared, in an interview with Lusa.

“Intro” has allusions, for example, Fausto Bordalo Dias, the usual musical influence, along with other Portuguese singers, who marked the creation of Milhanas’ debut album.

In the place where she is now, the singer realized “it takes urgency and curiosity”. “The most important thing for me right now, at this stage of my life, is to be curious and attentive to life, which was unfortunately not happening in the other phase of my life, which created and fulfilled the ‘Shade-Sleep’”, she shared.

The place of “freedom, curiosity and discovery” also has “much vertigo, so it is not necessarily just full of charms”. “But at least I’m alive, I’m looking,” he said.

The discovery, in addition to staff, also led her to expand musical influences, opening the door to what comes from abroad.

“ I have had the voice of Salvador Sobral in my head, who always said to me: ‘You are losing so much in being so collected and so trapped in what is ours, and that is a beauty, but you will gain so much more when you open the door and realize that there is a whole world out there that will delight you’. Only I had a somewhat conservative posture, which also comes from a place a bit of immaturity, to find ‘this is where I belong, this is what I want to do, a bit frowny’”, he said.

Milhanas did not only listen to Portuguese music, but he had not yet “focused on the journey so full or so attentive or so curious, to hear the records from beginning to end”.

The “greatest passion, greatest charm” he had in the process of creating “Surto” was Australian singer Nick Cave.

“ It was the great love of my life on this record, but I went through Patti Smith a lot too, and the classics Nirvana, Radiohead, already in a more contemporary version, Massive Attack also brought many funny references to the album”, shared.

The influences of Portuguese singers continue there, “it is impossible to leave them behind, or alienate them from the album”, because it has them inside it, “they have already won their place”.

“ I did not give up anything, I simply followed what I was feeling and the truth is that also the fact that the cinema appeared, and that the lyrical part gained another place, another inspiration, ended up pushing me away a little even from that poetic part, which eventually connected me a lot to the Portuguese poets ", he explained.

Cinema was also always a passion of Milhanas, but watching movies and discovering the authors and their complete works takes time, which chose to use to listen to records.

“I suddenly decided to start looking at the directors who had somehow enchanted me in the past, and I became obsessed. I am a lot of obsessions, and I did not rest until I saw all that was available, both from [Ingmar] Bergman and [Jean-Luc] Godard”, shared.

The lyrics of one of the themes of “Surto”, “More je ne suis”, are taken from Godard’s film “Vivre Sa Vie”, a film that Milhanas saw “eight times in the last eight months”.

Like “Sounds the Shadow”, also “Surto” is a “very personal” album.

“ As long as it makes sense, or at least as long as I feel like I have things that I may not be able to say otherwise, and that I can only say through music, it will make sense to do it this way,” he said.

More than being personal, for Milhanas, the important thing is that “the records always come from a real place”.

“ That's my maximum: always get the truth on the discs and get something visceral, whatever it is. In this case, I feel that I still needed to throw some things out,” she shared.

In addition to being created under new influences, Milhanas' new album had a very different recording process.

“ I feel that the ‘Sombra a Sombra’ was a relationship between me and the Actir [producer of the album], of being there embedded in that environment the two, and then eventually the musicians would appear to record a piano, but it was not a group process”, he recalled.

In “Surrender” “everything is different”. “The arrangements are made together. The production is not only mine, Jon and Agir, Rodrigo [Correia] appeared, Manuel [Oliveira] appeared, the drummer himself [João Lencastre] also gave opinions. Therefore, it became a thing in band”, he said.

This process brought music and disc “a vertigo, poison”, since Milhanas and musicians never sought perfection.

“ We live a little of the most special ‘takes’. We did not choose those who were [better] executed technically, but those who told us more or who were more special for us to record”, he said.

The idea, which so much fell in love with her, of “being recording an imperfect record” was only possible because she was in the studio recording her voice at the same time as the band.

“ I'm not too worried about my voice right now, I'm feeling the whole band playing, I'm watching the drummer, I'm watching the bass, I'm watching the piano. I almost lost some role and I was very happy in this place of being all in the same place”, he said.

The performance concert of “Surto”, which will have digital edition and vinyl, will be announced soon. But as of October, the songs on the album will already be part of the alignment of Milhanas shows.