Premiere: Oruã (with Members of Built to Spill) Share Powerful New Single
Photo Credit: Sofia Amante
Brazilian band Oruã have shared their searing new single “México Suite” today, alongside its official music video. The track appears on the group’s forthcoming LP Slacker, out October 24 via K Records. Featuring former members of Built to Spill, the Rio de Janeiro quartet continues to fuse lo-fi indie rock with elements of krautrock, afrobeat, and Brazilian psychedelia. Fans may remember members Almeida (guitar/vocals) and João Casaes (synths) were temporary members of Built to Spill between 2019 and 2022, joining Doug Martsch for a three-year period.
The song arrives from a place of personal urgency. Guitarist and vocalist Lê Almeida was detained while traveling to Mexico in December 2023, when authorities claimed irregularities with his passport despite everything being in order. After spending a night confined with other detained immigrants, he was deported to the U.S. and forced to return to Brazil.
Almeida recalls the moment as the catalyst for the song:
““In December of 2023, after an Oruã US tour, 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—it was all part of a huge Wilco festival in a big resort.
When we arrived, 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. 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.””
Framed by Oruã’s jagged guitars and hypnotic grooves, “México Suite” confronts systemic injustices and reflects on racial and social inequality. Almeida adds: “It is still extremely necessary to question white privilege. “México Suite” is about questioning, about self-respect and having courage.”
The accompanying music video pairs the urgency of the track with grainy, intimate footage of Oruã on the road—live performances, backstage hangouts, and behind-the-scenes touring moments that capture the spirit of a band in constant motion. The lo-fi aesthetic mirrors the raw emotion of the song while giving fans a glimpse into the community that fuels their art.
Formed out of improvisational jam sessions at Escritório, an underground creative hub in Rio, Oruã has grown into one of Brazil’s most adventurous indie exports. Their collaborations with Doug Martsch’s Built to Spill—including co-producing and mixing the band’s 2022 Sub Pop release When the Wind Forgets Your Name—cemented their reputation internationally.
The upcoming album Slacker pushes Oruã’s sound even further, recorded in Seattle with Jim Roth and steeped in the band’s trademark collision of noise, groove, and catharsis. The band will return to the U.S. later this year for select dates, including a stop at Zebulon in Los Angeles on November 16.
“México Suite” is out now, and Oruã’s new album Slacker arrives October 24 on K Records.
Watch the official video for “México Suite” here:
