Song You Need: Tim Bernardes and Rodrigo Amarante’s quiet kinship

The two Brazilian singer-songwriters came together for an acoustic, duet version of Bernardes’ 2022 cut “Leve.”

May 02, 2023

The FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.

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11 months after its release, São Paulo singer-songwriter Tim Bernardes’ 2022 sophomore album Mil Coisas Invisíveis still rewards repeated listening. Full of deceptively simple, glistening arrangements and glowing with Bernardes’ crystalline vocal style, it’s a rare document of contented quietude that shines through all the loudness of last year.

Today (May 2), as he prepares to kick off a U.S. and European tour later this week at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, Bernardes has shared a new version of the standout late-album cut “Leve”: an acoustic duet featuring auxiliary voice and guitar harmonies from the Rio de Janeiro-born, Los Angeles-based artist Rodrigo Amarante.

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Bernardes’ reserved persona conveys a wisdom well beyond his 31 years, and he’s used this trait to his advantage, connecting and collaborating with legends like the late, great Gal Costa in his early career. On the new “Leve,” his bond with Amarante — an artist 15 years his senior and further down the road of a successful life in music — feels organic and instantaneous, with the older performer settling into the song as if he’d been born to play it.

“I love Rodrigo’s music for a long time!,” Bernardes tells The FADER. “One time he invited me to open a stadium show of his band in Maracanã back in Brazil, which was a crazy experience. This afternoon we spent together hanging, playing and shooting these sessions in my house in Brazil late last year was such a natural and pleasant thing. Everything was very light and easy, he’s a really light and easy guy to be around. it was really fun!”

These lighthearted yet fruitful sessions are captured in a music video for the new “Leve,” directed by Andrei Moyssiadis and premiering with The FADER. Watch it above and check out Tim Bernardes’ spring and summer 2023 touring schedule below.

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Song You Need: Tim Bernardes and Rodrigo Amarante’s quiet kinship
Tim Bernardes 2023 tour

May 4 - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
May 5 - Washington, DC - Kennedy Center
May 7 - Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
May 10 - Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk
May 12 - Seattle, WA - Fremont Abbey
May 13 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
May 16 - San Francisco, CA - Swedish American Hall
May 17 - Los Angeles, CA - Barnsdall Gallery Theatre

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June 25 - Paris, FR - Café De La Danse
June 27 - London, UK - Bush Hall
June 28 - London, UK - Bush Hall
July 1 - Barcelona, ES - Vida Festival

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Song You Need: Tim Bernardes and Rodrigo Amarante’s quiet kinship