Chimarrão

Ten minute tea with Afternoon Tea. Spend ten minutes with Afternoon Tea. In the time it takes to boil one kettle, and let one cup of tea steep, we will have your daily art + music fix covered. Take your afternoon tea break with our Afternoon Tea curators. 

Today’s tea + soundtrack + visuals curated by Jesse Rivest.

Jesse Rivest is a Brazil-based singer-songwriter and guitarist hailing from Kelowna, BC. His latest single, “Nostargic,” is a product of his longtime fascination with the stars and the dawning of an idea that memories are like starlight—still reaching us long after their sources have expired. Jesse put together a little studio in a room in his apartment (in the capital city of Brazil) during the COVID-19 pandemic; it was strangely the perfect time to return his focus to songwriting and producing music. After more than 30 songs—many of which he still intends to produce—he found something special in this particular one. Although he had already hauled a drum kit into his studio for a previous single, “Bottle of Wine,” he opted this time to trigger samples using a MIDI controller, playing the drums with his fingers—without quantization for a real human feel. He invited his friend Murilo Fabrino over to perform the bass track, while he recorded the guitars and vocals on his own.

Tea: Chimarrão. This is a fun tea because rather than add tea to hot water, one adds hot water to tea. That alone is a reason to drink chimarrão. However, it also has a nice smokey flavour and offers bit of a pick-up, which is nice motivation to get to work. If prepared correctly, one can enjoy a chimarrão through the day: break a bit more clustered herb from the top of the gourd into the bottom, add more hot water (thermos), sip and enjoy. Repeat again later!

Music: Do I have to pick a favourite song from Gabriel Kahane’s latest album, Magnificent Bird? If I do, then the obvious one is “Hot Pink Raingear” which is much fun to have in your head for a while. I had never heard of him or heard his music, at least not consciously. Some good does come of Spotify! The Release Radar algorithm simply delivered this new album to me one week; I was instantly hooked. I like every song on this record, as well as its flow. His songs feel like everyday life as it simply happens—coffee in the morning, reading the paper, and being grounded by nature as seen out the window—set to a soundtrack that is far from mundane but rather very fresh and intriguing. I’m keen to dig into his other singer-songwriter releases.

Visual: Lately I’ve been geeking out on cinematography and photography. I had these old lenses kicking around—one from the late 60’s, one from the 70’s, and one from the early 80’s—and two months ago I learned that you can get cheap, reliable adapters to use them on modern mirrorless cameras. I got one for my lenses and it opened a whole new world of satisfaction in composing images and playing with light. It’s nice to meditate on a scene in the golden hour after a day of work at the computer or in the studio. This simple image made me very happy the day my adapter arrived and I put on the late 60’s lens; I felt peaceful and I imagined stories that could be told here.