Gabriel Guerra, Lucas de Paiva, Bruce Hornsby, Jenny Konradsen - Contrahouse

Welcome to CONTRAHOUSE. These four beguiling and voluptuous longform compositions were created across three continents over the course of two years by ULYSSA Platinum-carrying members Gabriel Guerra, Lucas de Paiva, Bruce Hornsby and Jenny Konradsen. Yes, THAT Bruce Hornsby, a hero of ours since middle school when we swiped copies of his first few records from our step-mom’s dusty CD tower.

But first things first here: Guerra and de Paiva, whose jazz/dance label 40% Foda/Maneiríssimo is really the most marvelous label on the planet, are vital cogs in Rio’s underground dance scene. Frequently, they’re tapped as crack session players by Brazil’s pop phenoms. Across 40% Foda’s 60 releases Guerra and de Paiva create humid, midi-led outsider-lounge, cheeky trance and breakneck 808 techno under myriad aliases. They draw from 90s video game soundtracks, library music, mid-80s ECM jazz and deep house — all shot through with a sense of humor and a uniquely Brazilian sensibility for movement. We’ve spent the last few years proselytizing for 40% Foda, Guerra and de Paiva to just about anyone who feigned any bit of interest.

A couple years ago, we were down in UHQ dreaming about musicians in or adjacent to the Ulyssaverse with whom Guerra and de Paiva might collaborate on a project we called “ECM Records meets white label house 12.” The name we kept coming back to was Bruce Hornsby, the Grammy winning songwriter and iconic avant-Americana pianist with whom we just so happened to become friends a few years back. From his powerful 80s radio hits to his adventures in New Jack Swing and bluegrass; from his jazz outings with Jack DeJohnette to his ’91 tour playing keys for the Grateful Dead — Hornsby’s deep well of intellectual curiosity when paired with his world-class virtuosity positions him as a once-in-a-generation artist as far as we’re concerned. Just listen to the three albums he’s released since 2019 for further evidence of our seemingly audacious claim.

The boys from Rio and Hornsby both agreed to take a swing at our wild hair concept, which we almost immediately started calling “Contrahouse.” Guerra and de Paiva traded pieces with Hornsby, editing his riffs and runs into new movements or reconfiguring a few Hornsby chords into the bedrock of a track. Something magical was percolating. But wait, we had one more additional idea: Might a voice take these pieces into some sort of anthemic territory?

Immediately, we thought of our dear Norwegian friend Jenny Konradsen whose mulled wine and warm milk voice has brought such comfort to us over the years, particularly certain early mornings after late, late nights down at UHQ. She was smackdab in the middle of recording her second album but agreed to lay down some vocals — but only if we provided some text. And so we reworked a few poems from ULYSSA’s EO Deines that may or may not end up in a ULYSSA publication one day. But for now, Konradsen’s takes have been chopped, screwed, dubbed-out and pitched way down by Guerra and de Paiva into gorgeous dada meaninglessness.