After half a decade without releasing an album, Saulo Oliveira S., considered by critics of the alternative rock scene as the Prince of Rock, is about to return to music.
The announcement of the return came in style, in a piece at the Hollywood Ruler, followed by an interview that also marked the breaking of the artist’s monastic silence on CelebMix.
In the magazine Saulo exhibited chiselled abs, showing that, coming from a routine of rigorous care with the body and skin, worthy of a model, he is in good shape.
In the interview, the musician was thoughtful, gave intelligent answers, wrapped in an excellent repertoire and British humor in his best “the-devil-may-care” vibe, his inescapable personality signature.
The British-Brazilian model and musician also recently responded to an interview with Rock Life Today magazine, in which he gave more details about the content of the new album and the surroundings of its conception.
Often rated, justifiably, one of the last mastermind millennials, a prodigy in a way, with this new album Saulo Oliveira proves that any title or adjective falls short of encapsulating the dimension of what his presence in alternative Rock means to this field nowadays.
A few in the specialized press were given the privilege of listening to the material in advance, so there you go: it’s groundbreaking.
The album begins with a monologue that, to the ominous sound of a hip-hop downbeat tone, introduces a contemplative speech presenting the main concepts that will be addressed in the next songs.
Then follow, always connected by a smooth transition, the long-awaited “Nighthawks”, the brilliant “Watchmen”, the surreal and mysterious “Middle Finger”, the mesmerizing “Hilltop”, the exciting “Westward”, the electrifying “Maze” and, finally, a closing monologue that sews all the concepts up, casting doubts about reality, existence and simulation.
The brilliance stands out in the choice of various instruments, catchy melodies, timbre technically harmonious and well-designed and philosophical themes addressed in an accessible way. Saulo’s ubiquitous control over every aspect and detail of the album is what makes it unique.
It is a work of pure craftsmanship, like few today in the world. Lyrics, melodies, instruments played, mixing, final mastering, cover art, and everything else that involves the project is done directly by Oliveira’s hands. Notwithstanding the name of Steve Cutts being at some point considered for the cover art design, whatever happened about this subject behind the scenes, Saulo’s supremacy prevailed.
To say that the lightning bottler delivers something that exceeds expectations is little. In this album “Do Gears Know They Are Gears?” Saulo Oliveira reaches the peak of his ability with words, a testament to how a songwriter can reach maturity in writing by making the perfect choice of symbolism and intertextuality in such an intoxicating mood that it reinforces the stereotype of innate talent. After all these years since “Wild Horizon” that apotheotic “Wizard of Words” aura still hovers over him.
The fact that the phrase “You reach the top of the hill rolling a huge bolder which falls all the way down then you start to roll it again just so…” if repeated, begins and closes in itself reinforcing its meaning proves that, intrigued by the myth of Sisyphus, Oliveira masterfully textualizes it in a metalanguage of brilliant loop criticizing the monotony of the repetitive routine in which, in the blurred shadow of a false purpose, people are mere gears of the system.
Having even entered the world of scriptwriting, the one-time Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award nominee and BAFTA Rocliffe TV Drama nominee comes back to his original narrative formula, the metric musical composition, more experienced, with a more powerful pen.
That’s because, (and this is just one of the answers to the question concerning what occupied him during the hiatus after completing his studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná and Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences) some time ago (2021-2023), venturing into experimenting writing on a different piece, Saulo Oliveira wrote a pilot script for a drama miniseries entitled “Oyster”.
With scenery, setting and development all designed by Saulo, the plot follows Kristopher Kingsley, a devoted family man and method actor, descending into madness as he fully embodies the persona of 80s rockstar Oliver Oyster for a biopic, jeopardizing his relationship with his family and uncovering dark secrets within the cutthroat world of Hollywood.
The miniseries got on standby. Saulo changed focus. In the last two years that followed after this project, he rescued material he had saved, lyrics from songs for a potential album and, revisiting the theme addressed there, decided to set everything to music. Thus, he began the journey towards the new album, sophomore, to be released in November, this year.
Until then, another waiting hiatus follows, this one, at least, less than five years.