Assombraçoes by Matmat & Lisa & Fantasmas

It was Mat and Lisa who turned on the drum machine and plugged the mic in. But what was recorded is the work of “fantasmas”: the ghosts of old sambistas, long gone b-boys, reincarnation of unknown ancestors whose stories needed to come out again.

One night in November 2022, singer Lisa Biscaro Balle and producer Matmat met up in a dusty office space in Toulouse with the intention of collaborating on music - not really knowing where to start. Lisa, a french-brazilian dancer and singer, grew up with samba in her genes. Mat grew up in France with hip-hop, started making beats as a teenager and spent most of his adult life in New York. Yet, here they were, two strangers in their home country, trying to reckon with what their heritage meant outside of birthplace. Where to go from there?

These tracks aren’t quite covers or remixes. The pair calls them “assombraçoes”: haunted pictures spontaneously reappearing on fresh paper. Bridges of metal as wide as oceans emerging over dusty breakbeats. Dipping sun-faded songs in a bath of obscurity to see how they shine through the night.

Tracklist

1.	Trem das onze	3:04

2.	Pesadelo	3:30

3.	Apesar de você	4:13

4.	O bêbado e a equilibrista	4:27

5.	Propagas	3:26

6.	Mora na filosofia	3:04

7.	Foi um rio que passou em minha vida	5:17

Credits

released October 10, 2025

1. Trem das onze (Adoniran Barbosa)
2. Pesadelo (Maurício Tapajós / Paulo César Pinheiro)
3. Apesar de você (Chico Buarque)
4. O bêbado e a equilibrista (Aldir Blanc / João Bosco)
5. Propagas (Jorge Lucas)
6. Mora na filosofia (Arnaldo Passos / Monsueto)
7. Foi um rio que passou em minha vida (Paulinho da Viola)

Keyboard on tracks 1, 3, 4, 5: Julien Carton
Percussion on track 3: Dipito

Produced by Matmat
Mixed by Julien Carton
Mastered by Sébastien Lorho at NDE Mastering

License