Afflicted

Ivar Lira is an Italian-Brazilian singer/songwriter/music producer and a music video director. He started as a covers band singer in Rio de Janeiro during the late nighty nighties performing synth pop and dance hits from the 80s and 90s by the likes of Depeche Mode, New Order and Adamski, at trendy venues in the city, e.g., The Ballroom and Mistura Fina.

In 2000, he embarked on a life adventure abroad, and chose Brighton in England for this adventure. He primarily intended to further his music career in the country where most of the acts he grew up listening to came from, and Brighton had a great music scene, so he decided to put down roots there. Songwriting was what he had in mind.

For two years he hung out at clubs and bars in Brighton, meeting up with local music producers and Djs, whom he enjoyed making music with. One of them was Paul Mex, who had started his career in the late 70s British punk scene, working with various artists throughout the years, including one of Ivar's favourites of all time - George Michael.
However, not enough came out of those sessions, due to mainly a lack of maturity on his part and music direction. He was also struggling to make ends meet, so at the end of 2002, he decided to go back to Rio, where he started a brand new covers band project entitled Lois Lane, which, three years later, would become a successful band locally. Among the artists who collaborated with the band were Tais Alvarenga, Mariana Rios, Roberta Spindel, Daniel Del Sarto and Sergio Menezes.

During a period of roughly 6 years, he performed with the band and wrote a few songs on the side. He got together with Dj and music producer Marcelo Schild, who would provide him with the tools he needed to produce them. He learned how to operate the music production software Ableton Live, and in 2008 he decided to head back to Brighton again, but this time to develop his craft in songwriting. He then enrolled at the British Institute of Modern Music, where he found encouragement to take his ideas forward.

Paul Mex heard some of these ideas and played them on his 'In the Mex' radio show. 'Jealous of you' and 'Impatient Moon' were songs that became popular among Paul's listeners between 2009 and 2010, and soon Ivar would go on to set up his new project called Protoplanet Disko.

Another song by Protoplanet Disko – 'Anonymous' - made it to the airwaves in 2011, and this time it was the 'BBC Introducing – The South' radio programme that played it. The BBC more recently has also chosen a Protoplanet Disko's track to feature in the TV production 'Absolute Genius With Dick And Dom', and the song is 'Magnetic Fields'.

Ivar then decided to perform live in order to promote his brand new material, and got Protoplanet Disko booked in both Brighton and London. The feedback he received was absolutely amazing.

Between 2009 and 2013 he continued writing and uploading his tracks to the music website 'Soundcloud', where he began collaborating with other music producers, who would remix Protoplanet Disko's tracks. One in particular got in touch, and showed interest in developing things further – London based Michael Mikkelsen, aka MSOM.

They initially worked together on production and remixes, but then brand new composition ideas started to emerge and be shared between the two, so they decided to create their own music project: Lira / Mikkelsen.

In the spring of 2014 they performed some of their songs live in Brighton, and carried on writing, as their focus was on the release of an EP, and by the end of 2015, they had enough material for it.

However, the process did not run as smoothly as they had expected, which put them both under huge pressure, therefore they decided to put the work on hold until further notice.

Ivar in the end felt he needed a break from music, and focused on other personal projects.

It wasn't until the end of 2018, when Ivar was living and working as an English teacher in Turkey, that he realised that the songs that he and Mikkelsen had written had potential, so he decided to bring them back to life by promoting them visually.

With the help of an HD camera he borrowed from a friend, he went into central Turkey's melancholic woods, and shot the video for 'Afflicted'.

Now, a brand new and exciting chapter in the artist’s life is starting, paving the way for new audio visual ideas involving other songs written by the duo, and perhaps by other artists as well.