From the cold wastelands of the 21st century, the Garotas Suecas were born. Influenced by the soul and R&B masters of the sixties such as Otis Redding and Sly & the Family Stone, the band cannot deny their garage and psychedelic origins shown by the fuzz guitar sounds and crazy organ riffs. Burning the dance floors throughout the country with their unique brand of rock, the Garotas Suecas are also true heirs of the unique tropical rock sounds.
While they are often compared to their 1960s forbears — including legendary fellow Brazilians Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso — Garotas Suecas are having the sort of early career success that the 21st Century uniquely affords: Without even releasing a full-length album, through widely circulated singles, EPs and touring, the band has generated an extraordinary amount of excitement from bloggers and critics. The acclaim has emboldened and energized the group, and their heightened creativity is audible throughout their anticipated debut album, Escaldante Banda, which American Dust will release in the U.S. September 7.
Escaldante Banda is a perfect late summer dance record. The album captures the bands unique brew of Otis Redding soul grooves and tropicalia craziness, with thick grooves, bursts of fuzzy guitars, polyrhythms, scorching female backing vocals, big horn sections and heavy psychedelia.
“Garotas Suecas has honed a slice of garage-rock-influenced soul music of which the Daptone folks should be jealous.” — The New York Times
“Garotas Suecas should not merely be listened to or witnessed; they should be absorbed.” — Carrie Brownstein; Wild Flag, Sleater-Kinney, NPR’s Monitor Mix
“With scorching guitar solos, horns and ass shaking rhythms, the Sao Pauloans give us the closest thing to a fantasy 60s jam between Them and Os Mutantes.” — Time Out Chicago
Garotas Suecas have also won over SPIN, The New Yorker, Time Out NY, and countless blogs.
Garotas Suecas (Swedish Girls in Portuguese) comprises Guilherme Saldanha (vocals and harmonica), Irina Bertolucci Chermont (organ), Perdido (bass), Sesa (guitar) and the Paoliello brothers, Nico (drums) and Tomaz (guitar). They formed in 2005, when they met as teenagers at an open mic night. They rehearsed in the home of an area poet, self-funded three EPs, toured Brazil, and improbably landed an MTV Video Music Award.
Garotas Suecas are especially beloved for their sweaty, infectious live show, which they will bring (back) to cities across the U.S. in September for a month of dates. We have played some college shows in the U.S. where kids got super wild, they say. We are down for playing anywhere where the crowd is down for shaking very hard to our music.
