Sofi Tukker joined Marcus Rosario on KALW to talk about their latest record Bread, a project deeply influenced by Brazilian culture and collaboration. The duo discussed how the universal symbol of bread inspired the album’s theme and the role of Brazilian genres like bossa nova and funk in shaping the eclectic, dance tracks that make up the album.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
TRANSCRIPT:
MARCUS: So Bread has a special meaning behind it. Can you share the story behind that and what inspired its overall theme?
SOFI: Yeah, it started with the song Bread and then basically we had a whiteboard in our house with all the songs written down.And every time someone would come over, they'd be like, what's that one? And we just realized that it's something that everybody loved. And the more we thought about it, the more we realized that bread is such a universal thing that people gather around to come together, to come to shared understandings.
It's also something that you get pure energy from. And we want our music to do all of that for people. And so we just thought it was a perfect metaphor. And then we also made a little acronym for bread, which is “be really energetic and dance.”
MARCUS: In terms of cultural influences, how have the Brazilian and Portuguese influences shaped your sound and songwriting on Bread?
SOFI: I mean, in many words, even more significantly than our previous work, which has always been very influenced by Brazil, but partially because we actually spent a lot of time in Brazil making this one. We collaborated with the Brazilian poet, Chacal, who we have collaborated with since the beginning of the band, but he even wrote some poems specifically for us for the album, which was really cool, including “Jacaré” and “Capuné.”
And there's a lot of mixtures of genres. So there is some bossa nova in “Hey Homie,” there's quite a lot of funk in “Throw Some Ass” and “Woof.” We worked with a really cool Brazilian producer, his name is Marcio Arantes. And he makes a lot of Anitta funk music. He's made a lot of funk music in Brazil. And so working with him was really cool because we got some really authentic samples. And just got to see how he works, which is really cool.
MARCUS: Since forming Sofi Tukker, what have been the most significant changes in your sound or approach to music?
SOFI: I mean, mine is significantly different because when I started and it was just me, I was doing acoustic music. Like folk music kind of inspired by Brazilian bossa nova, jazz, that kind of stuff. And then when I met Tukker, he opened up my whole world to electronic music. And I've changed so much since meeting him and starting this band.
TUKKER: Yeah, same. It's the same way in reverse, for me, I think, you know, being exposed, especially to Brazil and jazz music and the classic MPB and bossa nova. It's definitely changed my way of thinking about music in general and making music. And we've definitely influenced each other a ton.
MARCUS: You guys have a show coming up here in San Francisco in November. Is there anything else that you'd want to share with our audience or any kind of message you want to send over to the San Francisco Bay Area?
TUKKER: We can't wait to play. We love playing in San Francisco. We've had some of our most fun nights there for sure. And the crowd always comes with the energy and we've never played in Bill Graham. So this is going to be a really, really special night.
Sofi Tukker performs Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Friday, November 8, 2024. You can get tickets here.
