Last Friday, the 29th, singer Edu Falaschi held a private listening session for Mi'raj , the album that will conclude the trilogy begun with Vera Cruz (2021), at School of Rock Pinheiros in São Paulo. The album will be released in Brazil this June and in August for the rest of the world.
The event, exclusive to fans who purchased a box set in pre-sale, also featured influencers and press in attendance. Wikimetal was present and recorded some of the musician's key statements about the work, which also celebrates his 35-year career.
Regarding the listening experience, Edu thanked his fans for their trust in buying the material without knowing the final quality. “They are my closest fans. The ones who buy the box set, which isn't a cheap product, and they buy it blindly without hearing anything, without knowing if it's going to be good. It could have been a reggae album [laughs]. So, they buy it blindly, I think that's a cool thing. When I win the lottery I'll give everyone some money, I'll reward them with money like Silvio Santos,” he joked.
Edu Falaschi made a high-cost investment in the production
Produced by Dennis Ward, with whom he had already worked on Vera Cruz and Eldorado (2023), Edu explained that the mixing of Mi'raj revives the style used in the 1980s and 90s, and the final version allows for greater clarity when listening to the instruments.
“We’re going back to what the 80s and 90s were like, with a more open mix, the instruments sounding more distinct. If you look at the sound of the music on the most recent albums of the last five years, there’s no dynamics, it’s just a line. On Miraj, you see that there are dynamics. There are several moments that fall apart. If you compress everything, it sounds awful,” he explained.
The singer also revealed that he bought a Neumann U87 microphone in Japan, valued at 35,000 reais. "If it didn't sound good [laughs]. The other one was more modest. Just the microphone, without anything extra, it already had to sound good," he joked.
Rafael Bittencourt's participation in "Intuition"
One of the album's highlights is the track "Intuição" featuring guitarist Rafael Bittencourt (Angra), and being the first song sung in Portuguese by Edu since "Caça e Caçador," present on the EP Hunters and Prey (2002).
Edu recalled the behind-the-scenes details of the invitation, highlighting that the song had an "Angri-esque" and very Brazilian feel, which caught Rafael's attention. "He listened and said, 'Wow, what a great song, cool.' I could see he liked it. We were getting closer again, we had already met, talked a lot, but it had been a while since we'd been together publicly [at Amplifica]. So I took a chance, I said, 'Dude, what if you record it?' He said, 'Okay, cool, I'll record it,'" he explained.
Arab influences and Veronica Bordacchini
Regarding the harmonies, Edu explained: “There are several moments where a little piano comes in that creates a very Arabic harmony, in a song that has nothing to do with Arabic. I was careful to include little details like that. In the track 'Echoes of Vows', there's an orchestral element that's totally Arabic, within a song that isn't, but there's a mention of it.”
Another notable guest appearance is by Italian singer Veronica Bordacchini, from Fleshgod Apocalypse, on the title track. However, for this song, Edu explained that he sought a different vocal approach from the singer, characterized by a more operatic technique.
"She sings very well. I wanted the voice of a pop singer, not an opera singer, something kind of Arabic even. She does some things with her voice that sounded really cool," he concluded
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