Marcelo Deiss is a Brazilian born, London based artist whose music dances between indie, blues, folk, and rock.
His music details themes about social alienation and the human condition in subjects like greed, hypocrisy, absurdity, and despair.
The South American artist feeds off irony, satire and a dose of dark humor to make audiences see the obvious that goes unnoticed in everyday life. Highlighting situations and news that we see but we don’t look at and news we hear but we don’t listen to, Marcelo brings light to ordinary occurrences. Everything from the overuse of technology, to economic policy and our daily customs.
You just released your debut single “Horses Running”. Tell us more about the meaning behind the song.
There was a very natural flow in creating the lyrics and melody for “Horses Running.” The lyrics deal with subjects such as greed and social alienation. I knew that I wanted to write about society and the system that we live in.
I guess this comes from being such a sci-fi fan and reading books like Brave New World, 1984 and The Year Of The Flood that portray a dystopian reality of the world which is not very far from ours. Thus, it was movements such as Brexit, the MeToo movement, Trump, Black lives Matter and other topics that deal with the oppression that got me into writing about what’s currently happening in our society. The song took shape as soon as we started to mess around in the studio. Instead of working with a normal blues bar structure, I was interested in adapting the form. I’ve always felt this way about writing and recording.
The visuals for “Horses Running” are very compelling and feature some amazing choreography. What was the inspiration behind the video?
The video and lyrics were originally inspired by Steve Cutts’s short film called, “Happiness”. London based dancer Jenn Vogtle acted as a beautiful distraction in the “Horses Running” music video. The idea was to for her to try and capture the viewers’ attention in a sensual yet gentle way, to deviate one’s attention from the background noise, in this case being the images and short clips. The collaboration process was extremely fun. The video was co-directed by myself and Sergio Angot with additional editing by Habacuque Lima.
Has your ability to spend time in both Sao Paulo and London have an influence on your songwriting
Definitively. It’s been great living in both cities. I wrote the majority of it whilst living in London and working on the demos. The city has a great creative vibe and really lives up to its expectations as an inspirational hub. I recorded the Kings in Ely Street album, I decided to go to London to promote my album, meet new producers, musicians and explore the music scene.
London was definitely the starting point for me as a solo artist. I was writing a lot of songs at the time and I was thinking of taking a different music direction to explore new sounds as well as new topics. I recorded a bunch of demos and ideas in different studios around London. Sao Paulo is also a beautiful creative hub, filled with amazing street art. I decided to return to Brazil to record the singles with the help of some friends which I previously worked with on The Kings in Ely Street album. I knew exactly what type of sound I could get a recording with them, making it easy to visualize the end result.
You are influenced by the likes of B.B King and Eric Clapton. What is it about blues music that inspires you?
I love playing and listening to the Blues. Blues music stirs the soul and elicits emotions and for that simple reason can be so attractive to listen to, no matter what emotions it evokes in you. It’s all about the feeling.
If you could collaborate with anyone dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Seeing as I am huge Blue’s fan I would have to say, Eric Clapton. I just love his body of work, especially the Cream era. I spent a year abroad in the UK whilst I was still in high school and I can recall the first cd I bought being the Live Cream album. He’s truly an inspiration and I love listening to his work when seeking references.
We’re keen to hear more from MARCELØ DEISS – what can we expect from you next?
I’m sincerely trying to make music that I love. Music that I feel close to and that’s fun to make. I am excited to share a lot of new material that is due to come out this year. Singles, videos and a couple of EP’s. My band, The Kings in Ely Street will also be releasing a single next month. I’m really looking forward to playing gigs as soon as this pandemic passes. I am focused on improving my skills as a musician, trying to connect with as many people as possible and play at festivals.
With the hope that his music may spark conversations about subjects that need to be confronted and ultimately lead to answers, in the long run, Marcelo Deiss continues his journey, with the release of “Horses Running”.
