Oruã - Maldição Oruã

Oruã was born at night attending parties til dawn in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A poor man’s jazz. Working-class’ krautrock. Oruã are art! The Oruã, Maldição [KLP324] album celebrates their ten years of hyper-creativity, a double LP drawing from their many periods and various releases since 2016. The songs were recorded in different places and countries, expanding on a sound that originally stemmed from old cassette tapes and 4-track port-a-studio recordings. The album contains twenty songs in all, ranging from thoughtful psychedelia to fuzzy, experimental rock’n’roll.

Oruã is lead by critically-acclaimed guitarist and producer Lê Almeida, who is joined by long-time collaborators João Casaes (synths), Bigu Medine (bass) and Ana Zumpano (drums), along with many other friends and accomplices over the decade. Together they blend lo-fi indie rock, psychedelia, noise, afrobeat, and Brazilian references. In 2019 their sound was discovered by indie rock legend Doug Martsch of Built to Spill, which led to him inviting Lê and João to become temporary members of the 90’s indie rock band. Later they recorded, co-produced, and co-mixed Built to Spill’s most recent album, When the Wind Forgets Your Name, released in 2022 on Sub Pop Records.

After touring extensively with Built to Spill and showcasing their high-energy shows in the US and Europe, Oruã returned to Seattle and recorded their album Slacker [KLP307] with Jim Roth, who also plays guitar, synth and percussion on the recordings. Their sound continues to mix the electric pulses of deconstructed guitars over a mesmerizing groove, taking both audience and band into a collective trance. Slacker was released by K in October, 2025.