Above: Oruã in repose earlier this month, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Photog by Samantha Caldato.
"México Suite" is the second single from Oruã's new album, Slacker [KLP307], recorded in Seattle, Washington by Jim Roth. Oruã, a child of downtown Rio de Janeiro, was born at night and attends parties at dawn. A poor man’s jazz. Working-class’ krautrock. Oruã are exporting the best that Brazil has to offer: art! View the videograph to "México Suite" filmed on their summer, 2025 tour of Europe HERE.
Oruã guitarist and singer Lê Almeida explains the origin of the song "México Suite":
"'México Suite' was made after the 2023 Oruã American tour. At the time, the band had traveled from the United States to Europe, from where they all returned to Brazil after almost five months on the road. A few weeks later I started an artist residency at Sou'wester in Seaview, WA. The central idea of the residency was to produce in a non-violent environment like Baixada Fluminense, the area where I live in Rio de Janeiro. Everything went very well during the two-week residency and I played some solo shows around the region and then spent some time in Seattle.
"In December of the same year, I traveled to Cancún, Mexico, to accompany my partner Melanie Radford. Together we were going to perform a set of ambient music in a yoga session and Mel was also going to play with Built to Spill and it was all part of a huge Wilco festival in a big resort.
"When we arrived in Mexico I was unfairly sent to a room at the airport where they claimed irregularities with my passport, but everything was OK. I was detained for a whole night in a room with several other immigrants (none of whom were white). The next day they sent me back to the United States and from there I took another flight to Brazil.
"The festival did absolutely nothing to help me and it's quite possible that they didn't realize how serious the situation was. A few months after the event, I wrote this song as an outburst, without any fear or remorse about reopening such a painful and intense wound.
"'Mexico Suite' is a questioning of some of the injustices that are so present and alive in the life of an artist traveling the world to spread his art. After developing a project for an artist's residency in a peaceful and calm environment, the situation in Mexico hit hard and instigated even more struggles about racial and social equality. It is still extremely necessary to question white privilege.
"'Mexico Suite' is about questioning, about self-respect and about having courage."
The new Oruã album Slacker [KLP307] is out October 24, 2025. It is available for PRE-ORDER now from The K Mail Order Dept.
Above: the new Oruã single "México Suite" is out today. Listen HERE.