Sensible Soccers | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Portugal |
| Genres | Experimental electronic, electronic, psychedelic, [1] pop, [1] math rock, [2] post-rock, [3] shoegaze, [1] chillwave, [3] Balearica, [4] prog-rock, [5] Afro house [2] |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Labels | AMDISCS: Futures Reserve Label, PAD, [6] Groovement, [6] Wasser Bassin |
| Members |
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| Past members |
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| Website | sensiblesoccers |
Sensible Soccers are a Portuguese electronic band who formed in the Porto region of Northern Portugal in 2010. [3] [7] The band are named after Sensible Soccer , a football video game that was popular in the early 1990s. [3] As of 2026, the band is composed of three members, and has released four full-length albums.
As of 2018, the band were recording and practicing their music in the rural village of Fornelo, situated in the municipality of Vila do Conde, north of Porto city. [3]
The band began in 2010 as a four-piece. [3] [7] Original bandmembers Hugo Gomes and Manuel Justo (Né) were from the municipality of Vila do Conde, whereas the other two members, Emanuel Botelho and Filipe Azevedo, were from the neighbouring city of São João da Madeira. [7] The four had "known each other for a few years" before starting Sensible Soccers, and had been connected together to other musical projects in the past. [7]
When asked how they came up with their sound in a 2014 interview, the band replied: [7]
We arrived in search of a way to present our songs live. We have a lot of material limitations and not only that, so the initial phase was noisier, dirtier. For 8 we had friends who lent us material seriously and the result was different. We have been evolving and Filipe together with João Moreira has been producing and polishing our live sound until this moment. Aesthetically, we walk through areas that please the four (of us). Although we like different things, we touch each other in points. We all have a taste for repetition, for example. The themes end up showing that our influences are very varied and poorly defined. We are not a genre band. [7]
The band's first EP was released in 2011. Since then, they have played concerts in bars (such as Bar Labranza in Meiro, Galicia), [7] and cultural associations to international events such as the Primavera Club, Paredes de Coura Festival and (the first Portuguese edition of) Boiler Room. [6] [1]
In 2014, prior to the annual 'Fusing Culture Experience' festival in the Portuguese city of Figueira da Foz, the band said in an interview that they "were thinking of releasing some pigeons before the concert started." [7] It was also the first time the band had ever performed on a beach. [7]
Sometime after February 2014, Filipe Azevedo left the band, [6] and sometime after July 2014, Emanuel Botelho also left. [7] Also, at some point between the release of albums 8 (2014) [8] and Villa Soledade (2016), [5] the band became a trio, with André Simão joining.
In July 2017, French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles noted the band's performance at the Super Bock Super Rock music festival in Lisbon as "One of the most fascinating discoveries of the weekend", adding that with "neither a singer nor a leader to captivate the audience: a guitar, a bass and a multitude of synths, the band accompanies the sunset with its layers and takes us into a universe with airy and heady modular melodies." [9]
Describing the evolution of the band's sound as of 2018, the digital magazine Europavox wrote: [3]
Each composition penned by Sensible Soccers has its weight, having no problem in going well beyond the four-minute mark and becoming a progressive mellow trip. If the first projects went for the post-rock chillwave trend, then their latest, Villa Soledade, takes that exploration further, incorporating funky basslines, African rhythms or krautrock influences in a seamless manner. [3]
Reviewing the album "Aurora" in 2019, Clash magazine wrote: [10]
With dreamy synths and woozy basslines. Aurora is an album that demands repeat listens. It is full of luscious rhythms and exquisite melodies. As the feel good motifs bubble and swish around you, there is a surging rhythm section that keeps everything moving forward. The band has a rare talent to make you totally get what they are feeling without saying anything. As the music is almost entirely instrumental it’s easy to get lost in its twists and turns, but the music doesn’t bog us down with overly complicated ideas and themes, instead each song is built on a firm foundation of a few clever and inventive hooks that slowly grow and mutate as it progresses until you are faced with a full on beast of neon vibes and translucent refrains. [10]
On the band's own Bandcamp page, they described their album "Aurora" in the following way:
Sensible Soccers are back with their third full-length, Aurora. If in Villa Soledade they worked on the imaginary of national roads, of a real and unfulfilled country, forgotten and alienated, in Aurora they evoke a personal and optimistic Portugal, of childhood and invented memories: holidays with parents, study visits, the south of Spain, longer distances and extended time, melancholic Septembers, pop singles and stereo FM, the beginnings of topless and gigantic discotheques, the things you thought happened in places you didn't go. [11]
In 2021, the band took part in a project named Esfera, "directed and curated by André Tentugal and Henrique Amaro", in which they collaborated with Carlos Maria Trindade, keyboardist with the Portuguese band Madredeus, to create two original pieces of music. [12] These tracks were later released as Fornelo Tapes Vol. 2 in 2022.
Also in 2021, the band "fulfilled their long-held wish" to create an original soundtrack for the 1931 silent film "Douro, Faina Fluvial", which coincided with the 90th anniversary of its release. [13] The film is a portrait of the city of Porto and was the debut film of director Manoel de Oliveira. Along with de Oliveira's 1956 film "O Pintor e a Cidade", which also focuses on Porto, the band created a project named 'Manoel', creating music to accompany the two films in tandem, which resulted in the LP Manoel released in 2021. [13] In February 2022, the band played the music live alongside a screening of the two films. [13]
According to the online music magazine Resident Advisor , the band make "mostly instrumental music, with a wide range of musical approaches, which are sometimes more ambient-oriented, with thickly-layered synths, guitars masterfully work wrapping the arrangements, in an inventive-yet-coherent way but also bringing us thumping beats that range from shy wink to the dance floor, to the fragile emotional down-tempo." [14]
Jeffpresents, a UK promoter, described the style of the band's music in promotional material from around the year 2014: "The sound of the band is not easy to categorise but psychedelia and shoegaze are two of the "labels" that could be applied. They don't try to hide their taste for pop melodies but the construction of their songs goes far beyond the traditional with progressive structures and arrangements. Their live shows have an extra energy and intensity that will surprise and excite even those who already enjoy their recorded work." [1]
Les Inrockuptibles , reviewing the album Villa Soledade in 2016 noted "There are seven tracks of a rock that is a little mathematical, a little psychedelicated, entirely instrumental and this time augmented by a voracious appetite for trance, which at times looks towards haunting Afro-house sounds – these are the best passages of the record." [2]
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