LUFEH are a US progressive rock band based in Los Angeles, with Brazilian roots through drummer Lufeh Batera and the Tambasco brothers. The project started with Batera and the album Luggage Falling Down, but the idea was never to make a drummer’s instrumental record. He wanted songs, vocals, melodies and the feeling of people playing together.
Overwhelmed brings LUFEH closer to the band it was becoming from the start. There is progressive rock, metal, fusion and jazz-rock in the music, but the focus is more direct this time, with stronger vocal lines, clearer choruses and songs that still leave room for the players to stretch.
The line-up also changed around the record. Ginny Luke came in as featured vocalist and added violin to “Overwhelmed”, “Feels Like I’m a Ghost” and “Live the New Today”. Guitarist Deio Tambasco joined in October 2025, reconnecting with Lufeh after their time in Anno Domini in the 1990s. His brother Duca Tambasco is on bass, with Gera Penna on keyboards.
Recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, the same historic studio where generations of major rock, pop and film music sessions have passed through, Overwhelmed is LUFEH’s second album after Luggage Falling Down. In this interview, the band talk about writing more focused songs, bringing Ginny into the record, returning to an old musical connection and recording in one of Los Angeles’ best-known studios.
“Everyone involved comes from a place where musicianship is very important.”
Overwhelmed brings together progressive rock, metal, fusion and jazz elements. How did you balance those influences while keeping the album cohesive?
Duca Tambasco: I think the balance happened because those influences are really part of who we are. We did not sit down and say, “Let’s put progressive rock here, jazz there, fusion there, metal there.” It was more natural than that. Everyone involved comes from a place where musicianship is very important. We like rhythmic complexity, interesting harmony, heavier energy and arrangements that have movement. But at the same time, with Overwhelmed, we were more careful about the songs themselves.
On the first album, Luggage Falling Down, the focus was more on the instrumental personality of the band, the rhythmic ideas and the musical taste of the people involved. With Overwhelmed, we wanted to keep that identity, but also make the melodies stronger, especially the vocal lines and choruses. So the way we kept it cohesive was by always thinking about the song first. Even if a section has a progressive rhythm, a fusion harmony or a heavier guitar part, it still needed to belong to the same emotional world. We did not want complexity just for the sake of complexity.
For me, the growth of this album is exactly there: keeping the progressive and fusion elements alive, but making the music more direct emotionally. The songs are still detailed, but they are also more memorable.
Ginny Luke joins LUFEH as featured vocalist and also contributes violin on several tracks. How did her presence change the energy or direction of the record?
Lufeh Batera: Ginny brought a huge new energy to the album. Her voice gave the songs a much stronger identity, and that was very important for Overwhelmed. This album needed a voice that could carry emotion, power and melody at the same time. The songs have a lot of progressive elements, but they also deal with emotional pressure, inner conflict, hope and that feeling of trying to move forward even when life feels heavy. Ginny’s voice helped bring that human side to the front.
And the violin added another colour to the record. She contributed violin on songs like “Overwhelmed”, “Feels Like I’m a Ghost” and “Live the New Today”, and that gave the album a more cinematic and emotional layer. Sometimes the violin feels almost like another voice inside the arrangement. Her presence also helped define this new chapter of the band. Overwhelmed went through a lot of challenges, including a change of band members, and that brought stress and uncertainty. But when Ginny came in, she helped bring new life to the songs. She did not just record vocals. She became a major part of the sound and emotion of this album.
The album was recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, a studio with a major musical legacy. Did that environment influence the performances or the way you approached the sessions?
Deio Tambasco: Yes, for sure. Recording at Sunset Sound was very special for us. It is one of those places where you feel the history as soon as you walk in. You know so many legendary artists recorded there, and that gives the session a different weight. At the same time, we could not let that intimidate us. We had to go in prepared and focused. The songs are demanding, and the goal was to capture real performances with energy, not just make everything perfect on a computer later.
For me, as a musician, recording in a room like that was very meaningful. The sound of the room, the atmosphere, the legacy of the studio, all of that affects the way you play. It makes you want to give your best take. I think Sunset Sound helped elevate the album. It gave the sessions a sense of importance. We knew we had a special opportunity, and nobody wanted to waste it. That environment pushed us to perform with more intention.
Deio Tambasco joined the band in 2025, reconnecting with Lufeh after your shared history in Anno Domini. How did that long-standing musical relationship shape the sound of this new line-up?
Deio Tambasco: Because Lufeh and I had played together before, there was already a musical identity between us. We did not have to start from zero. There is a kind of understanding that comes from sharing music many years ago, especially when you had common influences and a common way of feeling music.
Of course, the sound today is more modern. We are not trying to repeat what we did in the past. But at the same time, it still comes from the same musical world. There are details in the way we play, in the way we build arrangements, and in the way we understand the energy of a song that connect back to those shared roots.
I think that is very important for this new line-up. Even though the band is moving forward and the production sounds more current, there is a foundation that comes from our history. Those influences we had in common back then are still present today, just expressed in a more mature and modern way.
So I believe that long-standing relationship helped bring a natural chemistry to the band. It was not forced. It was more like reconnecting with something that was already there, but now with more life experience, better tools and a clearer sense of what we want to say musically.
Looking back at your debut Luggage Falling Down and now Overwhelmed, where do you feel LUFEH has grown the most as a band?
Gera Penna: In my view, the evolution from the first album to the second happened very naturally, mainly because we felt the need to fill a gap that we noticed in the first record. Luggage Falling Down did not really have a strong commitment to vocal melodies or choruses that would stay in the listener’s mind. At that time, the main motivation was to create music with rhythmic complexity and a sound that reflected the personal taste of the musicians involved. It was a record built around musicianship, mutual admiration and respect for what each person could bring to the table.
With Overwhelmed, we kept the identity of the band. We did not abandon the progressive side, the fusion influence, the odd rhythms or the technical details. That is still part of who we are. But this time we had a much stronger concern with the vocal melodies, with the choruses and with creating songs that could connect more immediately with people.
I think that is where the band grew the most. We learned how to bring together the rhythmic complexity of progressive music, the harmonic richness of fusion, and more accessible, memorable melodies, without losing the energy and attitude of rock.
To me, that is real growth. It is not about becoming simpler. It is about becoming more focused. It is about understanding that a song can be complex and still be emotional. It can be technical and still be memorable. It can challenge musicians and still connect with listeners who are not musicians. That was one of the biggest goals with Overwhelmed, and I honestly believe we achieved it.
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