Cavalo (album)

Cavalo (Portuguese for "Horse") is the first solo album of singer Rodrigo Amarante. It was released in Brazil in September 2013 by the record label Som Livre and in May 2014 globally by Easy Sound.

Background and recording
After the breakup of Los Hermanos in 2007, Amarante began to devote himself to the Orquestra Imperial and the group Little Joy, which he co-founded with Fabrizio Moretti and Binki Shapiro. After the trio's release of their first album in 2008, the band went on tour in Brazil and by 2009 they toured globally. Living in Los Angeles, a place where he was unknown, Amarante then began to write songs about an "exile" and to become reacquainted with his own nature, forming what would become Cavalo. The album was recorded in Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro in 2012, and contains tracks sung in three different languages: Portuguese, English and French, plus some Japanese verses in the title track. Amarante alone recorded most of the album, which features the participation of former bandmates, as Rodrigo Barba, Fabrizio Moretti and Devendra Banhart.

Critical reception
The album received critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone magazine placing the album in sixth place in the best national discs of 2013. In a similar list on the site Tenho Mais Discos que Amigos!, Cavalo came in fourth position. In 2014 the album was voted by the Portuguese newspaper Público as the fifth-best album of the year. British magazine MOJO elected it as the third-best album of the year in the "World" category.

Touring and promotion
Three singles were released for Cavalo: "Manna," "Hourglass" and "Tardei." Video clips were launched via the Internet to all singles.

The Rodrigo Amarante tour began in May 2013 in the United States, before the release of Cavalo, when Amarante opened the shows of Devendra Banhart. For this leg of the tour, Amarante divided the band with Devendra, formed by Fabrizio Moretti, Todd Dahholff and Josiah Steinbrick, taking turns on the instruments.

In September 2013, after the record's release, Amarante began the Cavalo tour in Brazil. With a band consisting of Rodrigo Barba (drums), Gabriel Bubu (guitar), Gustavo Benjão (bass) and Lucas Vasconcellos (keyboards). Amarante played in 8 different cities between September and November, and later opened some concerts for Devendra Banhart in South America.

With a different band, consisting of Todd Dahlhoff (bass and keyboards), Matt Borg (guitar and keyboards), and Matthew Compton (drums) in 2014, Rodrigo toured around the United States and Europe playing in over 20 different countries. The tour returned to Brazil in November before its closure.

Credits

 * Rodrigo Amarante – Arrangements, composition, sound engineer, vocals, instrumentation
 * Devendra Banhart – Choir
 * Adam Green – Choir
 * Josiah Steinbrick – Choir
 * Kristen Wiig – Choir
 * Todd Dahlhoff – Bass
 * Fabrizio Moretti – Choir, drums
 * Rodrigo Barba – Drums
 * Joel Virgel – Djembe
 * Hiromi Konishi – Vocals
 * Noah Georgeson – Synthesizer, engineer, mixing, producer
 * JJ Golden – Mastering
 * Samur Khouja – Engineer