L_cio

Even in the broad and pretty undogmatic sonic landscape that is electronic music today, he is a rare sight: Laercio Schwantes aka L_cio, the man with the transverse flute. The Sao Paulo native doesn’t aspire to be a DJ, but instead delves deeper into a live performance in a club context – which led him to become that rarest of all things, a live electronic musician holding residencies in regular clubs without ever so much as touching a record. Having turned quite a number of heads with his instrumental contribution to Portable’s massive 2014 crossover hit “Surrender” (“Best New Track” at Pitchfork, among others), it’s not been Laercio’s first encounter with electronic sounds – a series of hybrid collaborations, projects and releases sitting squarely between acoustic and synthetic modes of production show a trained instrumentalist and live performer that knows his way around the studio, too. Born in Sao Paulo to a deeply religious family, Laercio has been around music all his life – amidst the challenges of daily life, his Adventist parents would whip out all sorts of instruments whenever the situation would allow it, introducing a young and curious mind to a wide range of musical expressions.