Valter Lobo is a young singer whose songs from his first album "Mediterrâneo" remind us of a more open and solar journey than his earlier, more intimate work entitled "Winter."
You are a lawyer by training what made you choose the music too?
Valter Lobo: It was a decision that turned out to be natural, because I had this artistic part in me for a long time. I wrote some songs in a timid way and decided at the end of my training that it was the right time to dedicate myself to music.
But you also have a musical background?
VL: No. My musical background is law. (laughs) I'm a self-taught guitarist, I've learned to play guitar for many years, I've always been composing at home and already at the end of college I decided to compete with my songs, I did an EP called "Winter" in 2012 that was relaunched in 2013, was a set of 5 very melancholy songs and this aroused the attention of the national radios.
Then you released your first Mediterranean album in 2016.
VL: I finally released my first album almost 5 years later, or 3 years after the reissue. This work of originals has now a year and I have been presenting it in concert halls, events and in some festivals.
What does this record stand for by comparing it to your first album?
VL: It represents my growth and at the same time they are interconnected, since it is the transition from winter to a milder climate. My first record was more closed, more diffuse, sadder, it's a hut on a mountain. Now, this is a trip up close to the sea, stripped of materialism and imbued with a spirit of non-sacrifice, here I go to a balcony in the Mediterranean.
I find it curious that you say this, because when I listened to the two albums, I continued to think that they were both bucolic, which refer us to romantic and solitary settings. In terms of the lyrics there is a continuity although the sonority is not the same.
VL: Yes. There was an evolution also in this aspect, which is normal.
Did you take a few songs from "Winter" to "Mediterranean"?
VL: No, it's mainly songs and lyrics made for this album. The first song of the Mediterranean is "I am astonished at the door, I slam my feet on the threshold to warn, I end the retreat, I leave the voice to find me ..." that is, I am now heading for the trip. I am the same person who wrote it, but there are differences because the subject is not so melancholy and so sad, I am more in finding myself.
You write very poetic lyrics, do you do it daily, or only when you feel inspired?
VL: I do not have a direct answer to give you, I will not make it an exercise, I'll do the song and then come the theme of the lyrics and what I want to say and then I'll go there. I do not have rules, if I need I do a song in 3 minutes, the theme "I wish I was" was done in five minutes, maybe it was inspiration, I do not know.
When you write the lyrics are you also with the guitar at the same time?
VL: Almost always. I play a melody on the guitar and then the lyrics comes to my head and I'm humming it. I recorded the album without having the lyrics on the paper had them all memorized. I wrote them for the first time when I was doing artwork for the album cover, in which case I had to move them to the computer.
You mean you always carry words with you?
VL: Yes.
Are you are thinking of them to improve them?
VL: Yes, I can see all the lyrics written in my head. It's like I have a computer. I exchange one word for a better one, but I visualize all my blocks.
Concerning the sound evolution of the first record for the "Mediterranean", then what has changed? The guitar is still present, because you can listen it, but what did you decide to do differently in terms of melody?
VL: I've worked with other musicians for this record. They added their part, because I also worked with another producer, I wanted to enter the world purely analogical, I have nothing too produced, are guitars, voices, trumpet and bass in its purest state. When the lyrics are genuine and not fictionalized you must have a melody that helps you convey that idea, or concept. As there is a natural evolution this calls more people to play these songs.
Unlike "Winter".
VL: In this EP it's me and one other person. It's more digital work. The "Mediterranean" is more organic and analogous.
Do you have words now in your head for an upcoming album?
VL: I have
And you're going to record it next year?
VL: Yes, it's already being written now, I always had the idea of writing an album entitled "I tell you everything" and then in all the songs the person opens completely.
So, you create characters that tell their story?
VL: Yes, I think it would be more viable.
You continue with that melancholy tone?
VL: Yes, I think so, because my voice refers to that kind of feeling. I can sing the most joyous thing in the world that my most serious and hoarse tone makes it look like this. I made the experience of putting other people to sing my songs and they sounded different.
And you thought about it, to have other singers participate in your songs?
VL: Not anymore. It is so intimate that to give yourself to someone else would end up distorting my work. I have collaborations with other musicians, I sing, but outside Valter Lobo.
Because you have such an intimate repertoire, it does not make sense to sing it in the big concert halls?
VL: I think it makes more sense in a theater, but I've played in bigger rooms and it worked.
And who are your audience? Already you notice them?
VL: Yes, it's not on a large scale, because I do not think I've reached the public, so I cannot know. But from children to seniors who like alternative music, or popular music, they are the ones who listen most to my themes. It also goes through young adults who are looking for different music.
Is it more of a female audience?
VL: Yes, thankfully. There is also a male audience, but for them arrives faster, it is also natural, it was not purposeful.
And you always sing in Portuguese?
VL: Yes, my language is the only one I master, and I do not want to sing bad English that I hear in most people.
You will leave the law and dedicate yourself to music alone?
VL: I'm a lawyer in the copyright section, in Porto. I work with many artists and I do not intend to leave in any way the law to the service of music and art.
Are you always going to keep these two facets in parallel?
VL: Yes, and I have one more, programmer and producer.
Do you produce other singers?
VL: Yes, I organize a cycle of singer-songwriting concerts and I have other projects to produce concerts and events with other artists.
