Odyssey Mixtape by José Luiz Martins

Odyssey Mixtape is a deeply emotional and visceral album, driven by the passion to create music despite adversity.

The fourth album by the Brazilian pianist, composer, and producer José Luiz Martins reflects his personal journey of healing from Focal Dystonia, a neurological condition that deeply affected his ability to play.
After years of dedicated research and meditation, Martins found a way to overcome this disorder —a condition that has prematurely ended the careers of countless musicians.
While Focal Dystonia forced him to step away from his instrument for years, leading him into a period of deep depression, it also opened him up to new kinds of expression. This interplay between darkness and light, depression and hope, is a recurring theme in both the compositions and the overall mood of the album.
This duality was present for Martins in realizing that the psychological challenges that compelled him to step away from what had become his norms also led to a meaningful reconnection with his past. This journey brought him back to old passions such as graffiti, skate culture, rock music, synthesizers and other artistic expressions that had once been part of his teenage years growing up in São Paulo, previously overshadowed by his closed mindset.
This transformative experience filled with both hardship and renewal shapes the core of the album's themes and weaves through each track.