This is “Happy to be Here Diane”.

We’re an indie duo from Brazil writing little songs. This is our newsletter, in which we’re going to each write little thoughts about everything and anything.

This is our second EP, “The Guest Room Floor”, available pretty much everywhere. It is cool.

In my experience, Track 2 of any good record has to be a Single. If I had to choose any Single in this little EP of ours, it would be “Kept the Shells”.

For the arrangement of this song, I wanted something more urgent, more present. I really enjoy these kinds of melodies that slide up and down, back and forth. Leandro would later double it with that flute synth in the second verse that I find adorable.

It was not what I was thinking when arranging the chorus, but the Chorus effect gives a very Mac DeMarco vibe to it that felt unexpected but pleasant. There’s this dissonant note in there that I feel ties the whole arrangement together. A gamble, but one that payed off, in my opinion.

I really like that we got a woman’s voice to double the chorus. Not going to expose who sang, but it is both really cool and gives the song another distinct little hook.

So, “Kept the Shells”...

This one’s another song I wrote while I was gaming. I honestly don’t remember which game it was, because at that time I was super into point-and-click adventures and played a bunch of them. They’re one of my favorite genres. Maybe it was Monkey Island, not sure. Something with a nautical vibe where you had to hold onto shells.

That’s how it happened. In my usual mood of playing and talking to myself, at one point I said, “Oh, I kept the shells” and I was already toying with the idea of a kind of road-movie song with a super catchy chorus. And the word shells in English has that double meaning— seashells or ammo — which made me picture this character driving a pickup truck with a box of ammo on the passenger seat.

He could be running away from somewhere. Or maybe someone left him. Or maybe he’s just always been on the move. The whole idea was to touch on absence and estrangement in an abstract way. To have this figure that, if I nailed the musical direction, gives off the feeling of being constantly in motion.

Oh, this track is the only one on the EP that features contributions from someone other than myself and JP. My wife recorded the backing vocals. She was very unsure about her performance, as she doesn't usually sing, but I kept insisting that the end result would be great because I think she has a beautiful voice that would blend well with mine and John's.

The result speaks for itself.

Just like Kept the Shells came from that feeling of always being on the move and dealing with absence, the holidays and the end of the year carry that same vibe of transition—being between places, between times, between people. It’s the season when some folks travel, others come back home, some drift apart, and everyone, in one way or another, revisits old memories. The shells can also stand for what we carry with us as we cross into a new year: memories, bonds, even the absences. At Christmas, that character driving down the road with a box of ammo could just as easily be someone carrying not only the weight of the past, but also the hope of finding a bit of peace and belonging in whatever comes next.

Merry Christmas!