Iminente by MNTH

Following the release of his thrilling self-titled album in April last year, São Paolo-based producer/creator MNTH, real name Luciano Valério, returns with Iminente EP, a five track collection of sparse rhythmic pulses and spiralling, cosmic synth design, co-produced by Paulo Dandrea, forthcoming this April 2022 on Mais Um.

Featuring vocals by Hanna Olivegren (one half of Baltimore-based drone-rock minimalists, Zomes) and remixes by Saul Williams & Nine Inch Nails-collaborator, Thavius Beck and Polish producer, Bartosz Weber, Iminente EP sees MNTH (pronounced Mantega - Portuguese for ‘butter’), expand on his unique collision of cyclical, cut & paste electronics and layered improvisation ahead of the release of his latest full-length due later this year, featuring composer/drummer M.Takara (Pharoah Sanders, Rob Mazurek, Damo Suzuki) & Carla Boregas (Rakta, Fronte Violeta, Linha D'Água).

Originally recorded in August 2020 for a Brazilian documentary film, MNTH’s Pedra Sobre Pedra (named after the film) & Demanda E Despejo exist in both vivid yet unsettling soundtrack territory. Directed by cult art/skate videographer, Murilo Romão, Pedra Sobre Pedra (Brick By Brick) is based around a group of São Paolo’s skaters, who campaigned to build a memorial park to preserve the history of downtown district, Vale do Anhangabaú (Anhangabaú Valley), and save it from a decades-long neighborhood regeneration program, supported by São Paulo local authority.

An area where many of the city’s homeless community reside and renowned spot for local skaters, Vale do Anhangabaú is named after the Anhangabaú River, a ferrous and acidic waterway which runs through the valley that indigenous people considered cursed and believed caused physical and spiritual illnesses - in Tupi, it means "evil spirit water". The viaduct, which runs above it, has often been used for suicides.

“Iminente is this idea of something about to become real, concretized. You don’t know what, but something is going to happen soon and you can’t stop it, like tragedy or death. Vale do Anhangabaú is an area everybody knows something strange can happen anytime. It has this energy.” MNTH (Luciano Valério)

Olivegren’s lyricless vocalizations course round Aurelia Smith-like modular synths and Rhythm & Sound dub tremors on the opening track, later reversioned then reversed by Big Dada label affiliate, Thavius Beck in an eerie and atmospheric trip-hop setting. Rogério Martins from São Paulo post rock outfit, Hurtmold features on snare & congas on Demanda E Despejo (Ask and Be Evicted), its piercing synth riffs at times, referencing Caribbean steel pan melodies, unravel in real time around wildly energising syncopated drums, before remixer Bartosz Weber of eminent Polish group, Baaba and Mitch & Mitch, takes it on a 1980s techno, 8-bit, Mario Bros detour.

As co-founder of influential label, Desmonta, MNTH has been a pivotal figure in Brazil’s underground scene for the best part of two decades. Having signed seminal albums by deconstructive Candomblê-punk trio, Metá Metá, and provide a regular home for Mauricio Takara and Kiko Dinucci’s frequent and varied output over the years, Valério has organised shows across Brazil and South America, for Desmonta artists and international underground artists ranging from Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley, The Ex, Jozef Van Wissen, Stephen O’Malley, Lungfish´s Daniel Higgs and Fugazi’s Joe Lally.

Described by Music Is My Sanctuary as a “bristling blend of dub techno, jazz, Afro-Brazilian percussion and punk, bursting out of the São Paolo underground", MNTH’s self-titled 2020 album received support from Bandcamp Weekly, BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction & Radio Primavera Sound.

MNTH is the sonic project of Brazilian artist Luciano Valério, exploring generative and improvised soundscapes through electronics, percussion, and chance-driven processes. Blending ambient, drone, minimalism, and organic electronics.

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