In the stillness of introspection, many artists find their voice, and Vina (Vinicius Castro) from Throe is no exception. This Brazilian one-man powerhouse, known for his contributions to Huey, an instrumental metal band, has made waves with his unique sound that straddles post-rock ambiences and relentless riffs. It’s a musical blend that brings noise, experiences, and emotions together in a cascading spectrum of sound.
In 2020, Throe marked its inception with singles such as “Death feels like an embrace that’s not allowed” and “Praise/Breathe”, followed by the compelling EP “Odium”. 2021 saw the release of “Throematism“, an album that garnered attention both in Brazil and internationally.
Fast forward to August 2023, Throe released “O Enterro das Marés” (The Burial of the Tides) under the Abraxas label. This new offering explores the concept of finitude, showcasing tracks that revolve around the cyclical nature of endings and new beginnings.
This thematic depth is palpably felt in the single “Hope Shines in the Autumn Light“, a song Vina describes as a representation of the elusive nature of hope.
Vina’s artistic journey with this EP is a profound one. He delves into the music’s creation process, detailing his inspirations and the intricate details of each track. With “Bleed Alike“, for instance, Vina taps into the raw aggression of life and the imperative need to live in the present. The song’s repetitive, claustrophobic riffs mirror the entrapment of anxiety.
Finally, “Renascente” (translated as “born again”) contemplates both the pain and joy of rebirth. Here, listeners find a duality; some feel the melancholy of the track, while others find hope. The recording intricacies, from its 8-bit synth-like sounds to the lo-fi drum ambience, make this track stand out.
Vina’s candid track by track breakdown offers an intimate view into his musical universe. It’s an invitation for listeners to dive deeper into “O Enterro das Marés“, immersing themselves in its layered depths and emerging perhaps a little changed, a little reborn.
Photographs accompanying the album, captured by Anna Bogaciovas, provide a visual backdrop, further enhancing the emotional experience. As we await more from Throe, fans can revisit these tracks, finding new nuances with each listen.
“Tricky said something interesting in an interview I saw a while ago. It was about how he only becomes aware of the songs he composes once they’re done or something like that. I can relate to that because my process is a bit similar. Throe is a way of purging feelings, so it’s also very personal. I think that’s also why I only understand a song I’ve written once it’s practically finished. I can’t tell you if I chose this or that path before the process. The process is a bit anxious, wanting to give a sound to what I hear in my head, so it’s after it’s done that I find out what it really is.” – commented Vinicius Castro.
Here’s the full track by track commentary by Vini:
“Hope shines in the autumn light”
“Hope shines in the autumn light”, was the song that showed me the direction of what could be done with what I was feeling at the time it was written.
This was the first song to be composed. I wanted to convey that sadness isn’t only fed by darkness, you know? On the previous album, Throematism, everything was denser and heavier. So for this one I wanted everything to be lighter. White in the sense of a lack of color.
“Hope shines in the autumn light” has something of a hope that you know exists, but that you never reach. The net represented on the cover is a way of being trapped in that. The webs bring emptiness and are also like the repetitions that I like to work in my songs. Whether or not you’re caught in that net is a personal decision for each of us.
Is a very simple song, practically a progression of notes with a well-defined path, nothing too experimental. But I think that in terms of feeling, it’s one of the songs where I was most able to combine the melody with what I wanted the song to convey.
“Bleed Alike”
An idea for lyrics came before this track. The lyrics say: “Life need… Bleed! Life need… Bleed alike”. And I couldn’t move on from that. It was as if the lyrics themselves were telling me: “Dude, that’s all you need to communicate”. So, I moved on to the riffs, following this minimalist and circular idea.
I gave up on putting vocals to this song because the aggressiveness of the instrumental and the name of the track already seemed to convey the idea that life needs to happen now, to be lived now! It’s a song about fighting anxiety and the repetition of the riff is totally deliberate, trying to bring the feeling of something claustrophobic where you feel trapped.
I really like bands like Ministry, Treponem Pal, Godflesh and The Young Gods. When the riff for “Bleed Alike” was born, I thought I could go down that road of looping and industrial metal noises.
“Renascente”
Renascente is something like “born again” in English. That’s what this song is. A track about the pain and joys of rebirth, which in a way is also about parting with something and moving on, reborn into something new. Some people who have heard the EP have told me that it’s the saddest track. Others said it was the most hopeful. I like this duality of the listener’s free interpretation.
From the start I wanted the chord progression to be very common and simple. I think it worked.
Regarding the recording session, there’s a sound that starts at 00:51 that sounds like a synth, but it’s actually a guitar with a clipper, a pedal that saturates the sound of the instrument and gives it that 80s synth look, a kind of 8-bit, very grainy thing.
There’s something interesting about the drums too. I wanted it to sound with a lot of ambience. Marco Nunes, who produced the EP with me, came up with the idea of not emulating a fully microphoned drum kit. He just used an over microphone and that gave it the almost lo-fi feel I was looking for in the instrument’s sound.
