“Emptiness Is a
Long Story ~ The First 12 Years Revisited” was released on CD. It’s a
compilation of songs recorded and released during the first twelve years of The
Joy of Nature’s existence. If one counts with the project that was on its
origin – The Joy of Nature and Discipline – it’s already twenty years.
All songs
feature new arrangements and mixes. Most of the vocal parts were re-recorded
and even some lyrics and titles were changed.
The CD comes
packaged in digipak, with an eight-page booklet including the lyrics of the
songs both in Portuguese and English.
The videos of
three of its tracks are available on Youtube:
- “Senhora do Almortão” – https://youtu.be/IePJpkocGEc
- “Breathing
Your Name” - https://youtu.be/efpuaVfEyHw
– “Winter Is
Coming” - https://youtu.be/FsXSj4g0vGs
Teaser of the record - https://youtu.be/pakBHtmsbL4
“Another View
of The First 12 Years” is a compilation that complements “Emptiness Is a Long
Story” and includes both unreleased tracks and new versions of old songs.
It was released on cassette (with its tracks also
available on digital format), in a limited edition of 50 copies that comes with
a postcard in a custom envelope.
The video of
one of its tracks is available on youtube:
Along these
twelve years, The Joy of Nature was too prolific and, when one is too prolific,
sometimes it’s difficult to keep consistency. The songs didn’t always come out
the way they should and, only now, with more experience and other technical resources,
it was possible to turn the songs into what was desired since the beginning.
This is one of the reasons for the existence of these two compilations. The
other is related to the fact that a chapter, related to the way the songs are
created and recorded, is closed. From now on, maybe there won’t be huge
aesthetic changes, but there will be changes in the way the songs are made.
These two
records feature the collaborations of Amanda Votta (The Floating World), B.
Ardo (Sangre Cavallum), Costa Barbosa (Arde Fero, Triarca), Gr Matteo (Igniis),
Lídia Magalhães, Mara Neves (Ladybug), MJ and Troy Southgate (H.E.R.R.,
Seelenlicht).
Both records
are available at:
or
DECEMBER 2015
“A Roda do Tempo” (The Wheel
of Time), the new album by The Joy of Nature,
was just released on CD by Cynfeirdd.
It starts from where “The Empty Circle, part II” left, as it is a return
to folk inspired songs in Portuguese. But while it keeps the dreamy sound
present in previous releases, the songs are more energetic and focused than
ever before.
Its main theme is the cyclical nature of time, the cyclical nature of
one’s individual life and the axis of the wheel, beyond time. The lyrics were
taken from or inspired by different sources – from traditional poetry from the
Azores and Celtic peoples (Irish and Scottish) to ancient Chinese poetry (of
Taoist inspiration) –, as all show a similar view on Fate and Will. Power over sadness
observing the inevitable passage of time.
It is the most ambitious work by The Joy of Nature since the trilogy “The
Empty Circle” and contains 16 brand new tracks and more than a hour of music.
It features the collaborations of Costa Barbosa (Arde Fero, Triarca), Paulo
Coimbra Martins (Archetypo 120, Oktober Black), João Malaquias and Joana Matos.
The video for one its tracks –
“As Três Moiras Encantadas” – is available on youtube:
Two of its tracks were previously
uploaded to soundcloud:
Para Lá do Rio do Esquecimento
- https://soundcloud.com/luisrcouto/15-para-la-do-rio-do-esquecimento
Pastores do Oceano Imenso - https://soundcloud.com/luisrcouto/pastores-do-oceano-imenso
AUGUST 2014
Everything follows its own course, so no ending
should ever be announced. After some time of inactivity, The Joy of Nature is
back.
The brand new “Two Leaves Left” is a mini-album
just released in a limited edition to 50 copies. It comes in a package in black
satin with two leaves made out of fish flakes. On the inside there’s a jakebox
with a vinyl-like CDr. It looks like this:
It contains
7 new songs and more than 28 minues of music. The tracklist is the following:
01. Inland empire
02. the girl with the razor waiting by the sea
03. the locked king
04. winter is coming
05. behind the window
06. water never passes through a river in the same way
07. the boy with the gun waiting by the sea
01. Inland empire
02. the girl with the razor waiting by the sea
03. the locked king
04. winter is coming
05. behind the window
06. water never passes through a river in the same way
07. the boy with the gun waiting by the sea
The video made for its last song –“the boy with
the gun waiting by the sea” can be seen here - http://youtu.be/b7CWb9PfNCw
And two other tracks were made available on
soundcloud:
- the locked king: https://soundcloud.com/luisrcouto/the-joy-of-nature-the-locked-king
- the girl with razor waiting by the sea: https://soundcloud.com/luisrcouto/the-joy-of-nature-the-girl-with-the-razor-waiting-by-the-sea
It’s a record about
isolation, memories from the past and the way out of it all, “the great void of
joy”
It’s available through The Joy of Nature’s
online store:
In the meantime, a new side-project to The Joy
of Nature was created – Moving Trees – in fact, it is a continuation of two
other – Moving Coil e aquarelle. The change of name is due to the fact that
those names were taken by other artists.
Everything about this new project is for now
available on its facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/movingtrees1
