Yoñlu was the recording nom de tune of 16 year-old Vinicius Gageiro Marques. Note the use of “was” here. His story is as interesting as it is tragic. From his parents home in the Southwestern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, Marques, recording as Yoñlu, crafted lo-fi, tropicalia-soaked, pop and folk pieces reminiscent of José González and Nick Drake all in the fragmentary style of Damon Gough. Delicate and, at times, dark. A sonic example of the racing bouillabaisse that is a teenager’s mind, the songs range from the straightforward (“I Know What It’s Like“) to the schizophrenic (“A Boy And A Tiger“) mixing gentle acoustic guitars and keys with cheap Casio beats, multiple languages (Portuguese, Spanish, English) and snippets of dialog from television shows and commercials a la Michel Gondry’ film La Science Des Rêves.
Marques took his own life in 2006. He left his family a note with a CD-R of his music urging them to play it ‘whenever they felt sad.’ On his computer his parents found a seemingly endless trove of recorded material that their son had been sharing around the world, via the Internet, under the guise of Yoñlu. Cryptically, one of the songs is titled “Suicide.” Awash in multiple genres the songs have been distilled and compiled on A Society In Which No Tear is Shed Is Inconceivably Mediocre released on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label.
Download:
MP3: Yoñlu :: I Know What It’s Like
MP3: Yoñlu :: A Boy And A Tiger
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Amazon: Yoñlu – A Society In Which No Tear is Shed Is Inconceivably Mediocre
+ Download Yoñlu via eMusic’s no risk 25 Free MP3 trial offer.
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just discovered this great record via emusic’s overlooked list (which is full of gems), and ordered it directly from luaka bop’s website. a bittersweet find.
1 | nb July 1st, 2009 at 4:49 pmThat’s just about the saddest thing I’ve heard this year. Interesting tracks – once you know that they’re the work of a teenager, it’s suddenly obvious. I think my friends and Imade tapes that sounded a little like that when we were 16.
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