Mother Nature

The sounds of MOTHER NATURE and THE RIDER were written between 2000 and 2005 and recorded in a small room in a flat-share in Hackney, as well as in a studio in Bethnal Green that was used as both an office and rehearsal space.

Most of these tracks were part of three different art projects Tetine were involved in at the time. One of them was Turkish Bath – Tetine's four-channel video/sound installation, exhibited at Instituto Tomie Ohtake and at Sonar SP in São Paulo in 2004, and at Monkeytown in New York. The work explored aspects and approaches to masculinity, featuring audio from 16 men of different backgrounds, nationalities, and age groups, filmed in real time in their private showers, bathtubs, and toilets between 2002 and 2004.

Some of the other pieces were also part of the soundtrack for the Brazilian film 33, directed by Kiko Goifman, who—at the age of 33—embarks on a journey to find his biological mother and documents it as a hybrid of documentary and performance.

Additionally, some tracks were composed for Winterspace, an installation/dance piece by the British duo Igloo.

Both releases reflect an intense, non-stop period of prolific music-making and transformation in Tetine's trajectory as a Brazilian duo relocated from São Paulo to London in the early 2000s. This period also coincided with their efforts to challenge Latino stereotypes in Europe—most notably through the airwaves of Resonance FM, where our weekly radio show Slum Dunk was dedicated to showcasing all kinds of unexpected music from the southern hemisphere.

The 20 tracks on MOTHER NATURE and The RIDER form a collection of never-before-released material. Tetine's music here is dark, atmospheric, slow, delicate, melodic, and playful. Some tracks may sound achingly sad. Others evoke nostalgic, spacious landscapes with euphoric undertones. Its otherworldly and meditative qualities reflect a unique harmonic tension, shaped by more than 18 years of recording and improvising together as a duo.

Both albums also reveal a meticulous, craftsman-like approach to sound. The music emerges from a gleeful merging of organic and synthetic elements—synths, piano, bells, bass, samplers, claps, electric guitars, and more—creating an unusual counterpoint of melodies of great beauty.

These sisters' release speak of "staying human" as opposed to "becoming machine." They were composed with the creative arrogance of a "second childhood," as Derek Jarman once described it. We didn't block the sonic flow during improvisations in favour of any intellectualized approach. The recording sessions were urgent, instinctive, and liberating—everything was done spontaneously, with zero pressure and zero cash.

There's a strong humanistic and queer presence in how sound, improvisation, and the entire recording process were approached. Body exhaustion, dance, drinking, and memory all acted as sonic triggers.

It's worth mentioning that the music was also inspired by Goya's paintings, Derek Jarman's films, Greimas' Semiotics of Passion, Brazilian 1970s religious processions, early folk songs by Milton Nascimento, Krautrock, and a heavy dose of Kraftwerk. On another note, no steroids or heavy compressors were used in the making of these albums. The harmonics are loose—and there.

MOTHER NATURE is dedicated to our dear late friends Charlote Maluf, Laura Di Vison, and Claudia Wonder - trans-missions from the past.