Rodrigo Leão, the acclaimed Portuguese composer and multi-instrumentalist once described by Pedro Almodóvar as “one of the most inspired composers in the world”, has a new studio album: “A Estranha Beleza da Vida” – “The Strange Beauty of Life” – due for worldwide release October on BMG. 

A former member of the much celebrated ensemble Madredeus and of alt-rock band Sétima Legião, Rodrigo has become one of Portugal’s best-loved and most popular artists since he went solo, with a number of platinum and gold records and several #1 albums. He has as well a strong international career, having performed live with kindred spirits such as Ólafur Arnalds and Ludovico Einaudi, and recorded with Scott Matthew.  

Rodrigo has collaborated with names such as Beth Gibbons, Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon or Efterklang’s Caspar Clausen. And he has also composed regularly for film and television, notably in Lee Daniels’ 2013 hit “The Butler” and for Petra Costa’s Oscar-nominated documentary “Edge of Democracy”.  

This connection to film isn’t accidental. Rodrigo has composed and conceived some of his best albums as if they were films or a story to be told. Like in a film, it all comes down to the casting of the voices that will bring to life each character in the narrative; Rodrigo then adds in sounds and moods to create the final cut that gives each record its own diversity and identity, dictated by each of its stories.  

This is what happened in albums such as “Alma Mater”, “Cinema” or “A Mãe”, where the story is told through the guest singers that embody these characters, which have included, beyond the names already mentioned, Adriana Calcanhotto, Lula Pena or Stuart Staples of the Tindersticks. In common all these records share more than a music style or genre: they share the idea of an álbum as a film, and of cinema as a world.  

This journey is again behind “A Estranha Beleza da Vida”, a very personal record, composed and recorded under no outside pressure during the year of covid-19, refining his melodic talents with a disarming, delicate simplicity. 

Rodrigo had just released a new album, “O Método”, when the covid-19 pandemic hit, forcing the cancellation of its world tour. Rodrigo withdrew with his family to the country and there he began creating, inspired by the nature surrounding him. “I started thinking about this album in October 2020, when I returned to Lisbon after months in the countryside. I could feel a difference in the first songs: something more positive, happier, different from the previous record’s moods. Some of them made me think of a time long before ours. Maybe this was no accident, maybe this was an unconscious attempt to forget what was happening…”  

Rodrigo has never shied away from exploring genres from all over the world – waltz, tango, chanson, samba – and transforming them through his very own eyes, through all the many travels he has experienced. “A Estranha Beleza da Vida” is such a journey through songs and moods that have been recreated and transformed by Rodrigo’s happy experiences and inspirations.  

“A Estranha Beleza da Vida” was made with his long-term collaborators: musicians, arrangers and producers Pedro Oliveira, João Eleutério, Pedro Moreira e Carlos Tony Gomes. But as always Rodrigo has invited a global cast of artists to contribute.  

Canadian singer/songwriter Michelle Gurevich sings on the first single “Friend of a Friend”, while Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner appears in “Who Can Resist”. Other guests include Spanish diva Martirio in “Voz de Sal”; Portuguese singer/songwriter Surma in “O Ovo do Tempo”; and Spanish multi-instrumentalist and producer Suso Sáiz in “A Estranha Beleza da Vida”.  

The result is full of light, full of wonder, full of life. “A Estranha Beleza da Vida” is a record of freedom, about freedom – “the freedom of being able to create without frontiers, without limits, without being tied to anything.”