Five years of existence for Unsafe Space Garden have given access to four albums: the EP ‘Bubble Burst’ (2019), the LP ‘Guilty Measures’ (2020), the LP ‘Bro, You Got Something In Your Eye – A Guided Meditation’ (2021), and their most recent release ‘WHERE’S THE GROUND?’ (2023). This is accompanied by a torrent of concerts within the country, including appearances at festivals like Tremor and Primavera Sound Porto. The years 2021 and 2022 served as a period for Unsafe Space Garden to blossom in a musical garden increasingly capable of communicating and connecting with an audience that oscillates between confusion and exhilaration. By mixing their unique form of existential protest using ingredients like humor, energy, color, absurdity, chaos, and intimacy, the moment of impact takes on the quality of an “experience” rather than just “another concert”.

Translating ‘Bro, You Got Something In Your Eye – A Guided Meditation’ to stages across the country allowed the “Unsafe” to create an echo that’s now impossible to ignore, paving the way for the emergence of their latest LP “WHERE’S THE GROUND?”, released by gig.ROCKS! in partnership with Discos de Platão. If the focus in BYGSIYE was on human perception, this time it’s about the search for unity – for the common ground – much akin to the natural way children interact on the playground. They urge us to preserve the capacity for childlike wonder but with the awareness of adults who need to deal with practical matters like registering their activities with the tax office. Unsafe Space Garden wants to prove that we are responsible for our ability to see novelty, we are the ones who protect it, and we are the ones who allow ourselves to become bored – or not.

The “Zappaesque” matrix remains in their genetic code, but only as an initial impulse. Now, they use hammonds to sanctify humor, harmonize voices infinitely to ensure that nothing is taken for granted. Spoken word? Yes, that’s present too. There’s that and guitar solos, alternation between Portuguese and English, a hilarious moment involving a GPS, and slippery synthesizers, always accompanied by the exuberant joy of children who never abandoned their hearts. As Mário Lopes writes in ípsilon: “Concert performance. Colorful tunics, painted faces, (…) sounds swirling, genres colliding, English and Portuguese alternating. ‘Holy shit, we’re alive,’ the famous opening words of the album, a very appropriate shout for those who accompany the energy and vitality of the concert (…) questioning and exalting, in sound and image, in record and three dimensions, the simple and complex quality of being alive.” It gives the impression of talking about warriors going into battle. And indeed, they dress and paint themselves as such: warriors facing the arduous battle of constant self-perspective. To do so is to dismantle the rigidity of the labels we box ourselves into, which trap us in compulsive and often self-destructive actions. “WHEN I ASK FOR TREMENDOUS COMPREHENSION/ I EXPECT YOU TO DESTROY THE LINE OF YOUR NAME,” they shout in “TREMENDOUS COMPREHENSION!”. Essentially, they’re demanding a bit more understanding and attention so that we can communicate and realize that we’re all made of the same stuff. There are various methods and means; Unsafe Space Garden’s method is this – and it’s unique.