Music for our ears
Words: Cláudia Pinto
Photos: Aloísio Brito
Band practices are not normally for the general public to view. But one day we got the chance to listen to this duo rehearsing. Of course, what they did on the stage a few hours later was much better, because of the lights and costumes, and everything about a live show. But what stuck in the memory was the beauty of the music, the rhythm of the words, the energy with which they sang… at the rehearsal. They performed Mirroball, as if to a large audience. It was music to our ears and so we want you to meet Best Youth.
Cherry Domino is the latest album from Best Youth, but Ed Rocha Gonçalves’s and Catarina Salinas’s story began many years ago. They first met in Porto when they were teenagers, and their passion for creating music was their connection.
Their band was originally called A GENIUS LOKI. “It was with this band that we started on our journey.” They later released their first EP, “Winterlies”, as Best Youth, and in 2015 they released their first album, Highway Moon.
“Since we met as teenagers, we thought our name should reflect this nostalgia”, said Catarina. Each song is a blank sheet when Ed starts working. “I usually start with an instrumental base then Catarina joins in the process. We sing the song from start to finish only with sounds. How does this song make us feel, where is it taking us? It is only after we answer these questions that we write the lyrics.”
In 2018 they released their new album, Cherry Domino, which includes the singles Midnight Rain and Nightfalls — the latter produced and recorded by Patrick Wimberly of Chairlift (who has worked with such names as Blood Orange and Beyoncé).
Europavox has named this Portuguese duo one of Europe’s 30 best bands.
But what we are telling you today are just facts. It is better to see, hear and experience them. Because, just like the best things in the world, Ed’s and Catarina’s music cannot be described with words. It is music to our ears.
