The album "Manoel" by Sensible Soccers is their 4th album and successor to "Aurora", born from the desire to compose a soundtrack for two films by Manoel de Oliveira: "Douro, Faina Fluvial" (1931), the first film by Manoel de Oliveira, along with the film "O Pintor e a Cidade" (1956).

In the track "Cantiga da Ponte", Sensible Soccers bring emblematic elements from their previous album, such as the transmuted bass or the percussion. They leave behind instrument emulations and introduce piano, transverse flutes, and saxophones. In this way, it takes on the form of a song, intricate, nostalgic, and emotional, with a touch of exchange and almost erudite flavor.

The project becomes more ambitious when confronted with the special relationship between "Douro, Faina Fluvial" and "O Pintor e a Cidade" (1956), two completely antagonistic films, where the latter functions as a negation of the former, separated by twenty-five years and united by the city of Porto.

The viewing of the two films helped construct a journey through two distinct pasts, making it a striking and emotional memory and an invitation to reflect on the identity and development of the city up to the present day.

The idea was to portray both films in music, uniting them in a work where, on the one hand, the music would have to function and live without the images, and on the other hand, in a cinema-theater format show, projecting films while Sensible Soccers performed the soundtrack live.

Manuel Casimiro, son of the filmmaker, and António Preto, artistic director and programmer of the Casa de Manoel de Oliveira, welcomed the presented intentions with enthusiasm.

The project was submitted to the creation support program promoted by the Porto City Council, Criatório. This project was completely successful thanks to this support, resulting in the release of "Manoel" on October 1, 2021, precisely 10 years after the release of the band's first EP.

The band presented "Manoel" in a cinema-concert format for the first time on September 19 at 7 pm, at the Auditorium of the Serralves Museum, as part of the celebrations of the 90 years of "Douro, Fauna Fluvial" promoted by the Casa do Cinema Manoel de Oliveira.

Sensible Soccers is a Portuguese band from a coastal city in the North of Portugal, known mainly for their instrumental, hypnotic music, and sweet interaction with the audience.