Guaxe

The Brazilian indie psych duo Guaxe originated from the occasional joint work of two experimental musicians who exchanged ideas on lo-fi methods and their own warm, hazy approach to songcraft, yielding the wild and colorful self-titled debut album issued in 2019. Pedro Bonifrate of Supercordas and Dinho Almeida of Boogarins loosely assembled the project after Supercordas disbanded in 2016. Long-time collaborators who had each guested on the other’s recordings, the pair already shared a wildly psychedelic vision of pop music before they began operating as a duo. Through a series of spontaneous jams and recording sessions they gradually shifted toward more structured work and eventually named the venture Guaxe. The positive, friendly, and shape-shifting sounds they produced were documented via an intricate network of lo-fi home recording gear, frequently incorporating whatever ambient noises occurred around the house while Almeida and Bonifrate pursued their experiments. The strongest material from those sessions coalesced into the self-titled full-length album, which the ORG label released in late summer 2019.