After several years as the vocalist of the rock band Merlin, Felipe Lion decided to take advantage of a moment of inactivity of the band to start another project. During all this time he had accumulated a series of songs in Bossa Nova style and wanted to present this work to the public. With the support of his friend Douglas Capellato, also a singer, composer and musician, in 2013 he started an endless series of recording and re-recording sessions of this material. The initial idea was to form a duet, but plans changed when Douglas decided to live in Canada.
Regardless, Lion kept working on the songs, including and excluding instruments, often fully recreating arrangements. At this point, the project already had a name, Last Aliens in Rio, and a definite proposal: to create something different starting from Bossa, a style Lion always loved, but that seemed enclosed between the eternal emulation of its idols and the secondary role of being the source of soft versions of international hits.
Lion then brought together a group of young musicians and completed this first album, which, to that date, only had songs in English. He sent this first version to several European and American labels. In no time he received several proposals, finally opting for label Mareld (Sweden) – linked to Substream Music Group –after Håkan Ludvigson, his art director, encouraged him to re-record the songs in Portuguese. The name Last Aliens in Rio was kept in English because everyone involved found it great.
The debut album, Teu Doce Jeito de Dizer Adeus (The Lovely Way You Say Goodbye), with ten songs signed by Lion – one in the company of Douglas Capellato – was released in June 2015 and remained for several weeks in the best-selling album list of iTunes Brazil. Teu Doce Jeito de Dizer Adeus also had a good international repercussion, especially in South Korea and Japan.
The second album of Last Aliens in Rio, Bossa Nova Hotel, was released in September 2016 by the Italian label RNC Music, immediately entering the general best-selling list of iTunes Brazil. Lion, two of them with Leandro Henrique, signs its ten songs. The bases of the repertoire are Bossas Novas in 7/8 time signature, Lion’s trademark, such as the very “carioca” (from Rio) Onde Tu Tá? (Where Are You?) – Lion’s homage to the city where he was born. Another Bossa in 7/8, Musa Urbana (Urban Muse), stayed for several months at South Korea’s Bossa and Jazz Top Charts.
Almost every song from both albums was chosen to be a part of several Jazz and Lounge Music compilations, released by labels from around the world, as well as many playlists created by music curators, such as Future Hits, available in Air France flights.
Índia, the new album from Last Aliens in Rio, to be released in all platforms on 20 September 2019, intends to consolidate the musical language of the project. In the 10 tracks, all written by Lion (two of them in partnership with his former Merlin comrades), the musicians show they are very in tune with the style of Bossa Nova created by their leader. That style is mainly marked by modern and well-constructed lyrics, and for their 7/8 time signature, instead of the traditional 2/4 or 4/4 used in Bossa Nova. This time signature, to Lion, makes the Bossa more jazzy, modern, and elegant.
Besides the Bossa Nova, Last Aliens in Rio bring in the album other stylized typically Brazilian genres in tracks like Bunitinha (Cute Girl), a fun Chorinho sang by Lion featuring Rita Oliva, the Baião Sem Risco (No Risk), and the Samba Rock Desassossego (Restlessness).
Índia was produced by Lion and Alexandre Fontanetti, who has recently won a Grammy for his work as sound engineer for Nando Reis’ album Jardim. Were also involved in the recording of the album, besides Lion himself (vocals) and Fontanetti (eletric guitar and requinto guitar), the musicians Leandro Henrique (guitar); Luciano Ruas (piano); Zé Godoy (piano); Alex Dias (double bass); Marcelo Freitas (sax and clarinet); Thadeu Romano (accordion); Wagner Vasconcelos (drums), and the singer Rita Oliva.
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