Unsafe Space Garden

Unsafe Space Garden

Unsafe Space Garden are a Portuguese group from Guimarães. They form around the ideas of Nuno Duarte and Alexandra Saldanha, and they emerge between 2017 and 2018 as a band/project/collective with a changing membership and an increasingly developed live and recording identity.

Background and development

The group begins as a set of ideas in Nuno Duarte’s notebook, with compositions taking shape from that starting point. Their first EP, Bubble Burst, appears in 2019 and establishes the organic base that continues through later full-length releases. Their music is described as prolific, maximalist pop with a strongly psychedelic character and surreal elements.

Line-up

The current line-up includes Nuno Duarte on guitar and vocals, Alexandra Saldanha on vocals and keyboards, Filipe Louro on bass, Diogo Costa on electronics, José Vale on guitar, and either Pedro Vasconcelos or João Cardita on drums. Pedro records drums on the most recent album, while João plays drums live. At a Primavera Sound Porto appearance, Pedro Melo Alves joins on drums and João Grilo on keyboards.

Style

Unsafe Space Garden are associated with neo-psychedelia, and their sound is marked by dense arrangement, strong psychedelic colouring and a sense of ongoing expansion from one release to the next.