In 2009, a special edition of his album was released in Japan by JVC Records and ‘Nothing But a Song’ peaked at number 11 on Billboard’s Japan HOT 100 Chart. In 2010, his album was released both in the Philippines by Universal Records and in South Korea by Kang&Music where his song ‘Fine’ gained public attention after being featured on a popular South Korean drama series. This led up to a brief promotional Tour in Seoul where the public granted him a Best Foreign Artist Award for his performance at the 2010 Grand Mint Festival.
Shortly after this, Tiago started writing songs for his second studio album entitled Umbilical — scheduled for release late October 2011 — which had New York-based Andy Chase as producer.
Early life in the UK and US and first approach to music
As a son of an agricultural researcher, Tiago got used to growing up in different places as his family traveled around due to his father’s studies. When Tiago was just a few months old, his family moved to Cambridge, England, and Britain became his home for the first years of his life.
At age 8, already back to his native country, Tiago touched the acoustic guitar for the first time, learning the basics to the instrument while having lessons with the mother of a neighbor of his who, in exchange, had English lessons with Tiago’s mother.
Regardless of having no musical background in his family, Tiago showed great interest towards music. At age 10, while living in the States — Raleigh, North Carolina — his father agreed on giving him his first acoustic guitar and Tiago quickly started picking up tunes and melodies from songs he loved.
From small clubs to a record deal
Tiago was 17 — and back in Brazil — when he moved out of his parents house to study communications for his major. He also attended music college for little over a year before realizing what he really wanted: to play live. So he started performing in small clubs with local cover bands but had no further intentions in becoming a songwriter at the time.
One night in 2005, after having an idea for a song rambling in his head for a while, he wrote down some lyrics and made a home audio recording that was later sent to close friends for feedback. Little did he know, two and a half years later, the sketch of the unfinished song he recorded that night would gain attention from local record label SLAP, which then asked Tiago to finish the untitled track and record a proper demo. A few weeks later, on October 2007, the demo for ‘Nothing But A Song’ ended up being featured on a very popular Brazilian soap opera, and the public attention toward Tiago’s music got him his first record deal.
When invited by SLAP to record a full length album on January 2008, Tiago had no more than two songs of his own and no more than a few weeks time before recording sessions. He lacked the experience in songwriting and was given the option to record other people’s songs — which then started being sent to him by local songwriters — but still preferred expressing himself through his own words.
Let Yourself In was released on April 2008 featuring 8 original tracks by Tiago. The album also included his own versions for ‘My Girl’ — recorded by The Temptations in 1964 — and the Beatles classic ‘Ticket To Ride’.
Getting things together and recording Umbilical
Quite common to the story of any starting artist, the two years that followed Tiago’s debut had their natural ups and downs. The initial Brazilian public reaction toward his first album was good, but also proved to be quite ambivalent. While Tiago’s music and talent were often well spoken of and a growing number of fans began to follow due to the massive exposure of his songs on various very popular soap opera soundtracks, Tiago was also facing general apathy, especially from the media and critics. After all, a local artist singing only in English is yet to be widely accepted in Brazil.
Despite all of this, Tiago managed to maintain a relatively frequent number of performances and stay on his track. In fact, the resistance toward his music pushed him away from major spotlights and this turned out to be a good thing. Getting little or no attention from mainstream media gave Tiago the freedom to experiment artistically without necessarily having to fit to any pre-established expectations and gradually evolve as an artist.
Parallel to what was happening in Brazil, Tiago’s music slowly gained attention in Asia. Japan was the first to release his album internationally in 2009, followed by the Philippines and South Korea in 2010. With radios all over Tokyo, Manila and Seoul playing his songs, it soon became clear those places were truly embracing his music. On October 2010, South Korean label Kang&Music reaffirmed this when inviting Tiago for what turned out to be a short but very successful promotional tour in Seoul.
As soon as Tiago got back to Brazil, he knew it was time for a new record. So, he spent little over five months in his apartment gathering thoughts and musical ideas until teaming up with New York-based Andy Chase for the production of Umbilical.
Chase — who had previously worked with bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Tahiti 80, and The Divine Comedy — pre-produced Tiago’s album over the internet before actually meeting with him in Rio de Janeiro for recording sessions. After two weeks finishing basic tracks with the band, they both headed back to New York City for final recording and mixing at Stratosphere Sound — recording studio Chase co-owns with former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha and Foutains Of Wayne band member Adam Schlesinger.
“It was Tiago’s voice that first drew me in. I had only heard a few songs from his debut album but there was a fragility and honesty in his voice that I connected with. I intentionally didn’t study that album too much once I knew we were going to work together because I didn’t want to feel I had rules about what genre to keep him in, or what production constraints we had to adhere to based on that first effort. I could sense there was immense potential in Tiago and his band, but I wanted to move them away from that clean, careful sound and see the music evolve towards something darker, grittier and more complex, which I felt would make his unusual voice stand out even that much more. Tiago is both a classic and a contemporary soul — combining the best of singers like Nick Drake and bands like Radiohead. I hope people can enjoy getting as caught up in the mastery of his lyrics and his beautiful, textural voice as I have”. — Andy Chase
Umbilical was mastered at Sterling Sound by Ted Jensen and is scheduled for release October 2011.
Nothing But a Song
My Girl
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