On the surface, Redemption feels like a curious name for Lari Basilio’s latest and unendingly dynamic instrumental album.
The Brazilian-born, Houston-based guitarist’s third full-length once again finds the virtuoso finessing her fretboard with a fluidly funky, percussively harmonic-popping fingerstyle akin to the work on her 2022 full-length, Your Love.
Gain-surged rockers like Dear D and Just Like Home are likewise ripe with the kinds of jubilantly screaming leads she brought to 2019’s Joe Satriani-featuring Far More. No vindication necessary – her playing remains impeccable and on-point.
As Basilio explains to Guitar World, the “redemption moment” through the making of her new album was more behind-the-scenes and personal.
It’s the eve before Basilio releases Redemption’s ballad-like, yet vivaciously vibrato-coursing title cut onto streamers, but likewise a couple of days after the official announcement of another bundle of joy – her newborn son, Liam.
The album, Basilio says, was steered and inspired by the “formation of a new life,” this reflected through Redemption pieces Heartbeat and New Chapter. That said, the record also marks a second chance at motherhood for Basilio, following difficult and tragic circumstances.
“It’s been an emotional journey for me. When I started writing these songs for this album, I found out I was pregnant – [but] that first pregnancy didn’t progress, unfortunately. So I had to deal with this miscarriage when I was writing this song,” she says in relation to first single Redemption, adding that she turned to playing music to process the profound sadness she’d been facing.
“Of course, guitar has always helped me in any phase of my life, but especially in this moment. I think music is always a great way to find joy and happiness.”
Seeking salvation through songcraft, Basilio reteamed with her Your Love backup band – drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and bassists Leland Sklar and Sean Hurley – as well as keyboardist Mari Jacintho, and cut the 11-song Redemption at L.A.’s EastWest Studios.
Armed with her signature Ibanez LB1, a pair of her JHS-modeled Violet distortion pedals and a couple of Laney amps, Basilio worked herself through an emotional diaspora of morning dew-glistening fusion (Summertime), thick-necked-and-low-slung chunking (Seven) and tastefully bar-bent melodicism (Forever).
Amazingly, just as the collection neared completion, Basilio discovered she was pregnant again. While Redemption began in trying times, the guitarist never gave up faith in her technical abilities, the healing power of music and the plan to start a family.
“I always dreamed of being a mom,” she says of the latter, in particular. “It’s a dream come true to be able to live this moment right now.”
Speaking with Guitar World, Basilio discusses her captive audience at home in Houston, how the new record balances ballads with nostalgically “hardcore” energy and other details surrounding her current Redemption arc.
You recently made an Instagram post announcing the birth of your son, wherein the first slide has you sitting there – quite pregnant – with your signature LB1 in your lap. The next slide finds you in the same living room, but now you’re holding onto your baby, while that guitar is far off in the background.
You’re just a month into your son’s life, but have you felt a shift in priorities? Has the balance between daily life and playing guitar changed for you at all?
“Luckily, I’ve been playing guitar but, of course, for less time during the day now. The baby needs me so much. It’s great, though! I always wanted to live as a mom, to have this experience as a woman. And I think it’s so important during this first month of motherhood to be there for the needs of the baby. It’s crucial!
“But I’ve still been able to play the guitar. I just have the baby near – in the bassinette, by my side – and he’ll listen. I mean… he listened to me play when he was in my belly for nine months, but now he’s here outside with me and he continues to listen to me play. [Laughs] I’m finding a new balance. So far, so good.”
What was the first thing you played for your son once you came home from the hospital?
“I played a riff off my song Sunny Days [released as a single in 2021].”
Any reason you chose that?
“I didn’t think much about it. It just happened to come out of my hands. [Laughs]”
I love writing ballads and groove-stuff – as well as some funky tunes – my rock side is very, very much alive and well
As you mentioned, you had someone else there along with you as you were writing the album. Did that experience inspire your playing to go in any different directions, performance-wise or rhythmically?
“I’m always looking to find new melodies. The melody for me is the main point of my songwriting. And, of course, I don’t want it to be repetitive. So the challenge is to come up with new, interesting songs – something I can give to the listener that they can carry with them throughout the day.”
Something different on this record is your seven-string song, Seven. You’d uploaded and previewed this song through your socials back in 2021 before fleshing it out for Redemption. Why did you end up saving the track for this album, rather than slide it onto Your Love?
“On Your Love, I just did some rhythm work with the seven-string guitar. But I spent time playing it between albums and felt it was the right time to start exploring it more. So I was just feeling like finishing that song… Inspiration isn’t always right there – sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. I accept that. That’s fine. But I do my best to wrap up the songs I have when I need to. I think that was what happened with Seven.”
Despite the gentler songs like Redemption or Bliss, in many ways this feels like a more ripping album than Your Love. You’re pushing the tempos harder. Seven is one of those songs. The Fighter is another. Did you feel inspired to get heavier on this one?
“Yes! Despite [the fact that] I love writing ballads and groove-stuff – as well as some funky tunes – my rock side is very, very much alive and well. I think I showed that on this album, very much so. I noticed this at the end [of the writing sessions] and was like, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of rock tracks on this album!’ I felt really good about that. It was something that happened naturally.
There’s this climax on The Fighter, a double-time shred section, that’s unique to the album. How do you remember that one coming up, in particular?
“That was inspired by my teenage days, playing in my hardcore band in my hometown. I said, ‘Let’s just put a bridge in here that would bring me back to playing in the underground rock scene in São Paulo.’”
The record doesn’t seem as acoustically minded as Your Love had been, either.
“Your Love had two full acoustic tracks. With this one, the only piece I used an acoustic guitar on was Redemption, for rhythms.”
How conscious of a decision was that?
“It was conscious. Although I love playing and writing on acoustic guitar… I wanted to do something different. With that in mind, I did include a track that’s 100 percent electric guitar, with no other instrumentation – Forever. That was something new for me.”
Songs like The Fighter or The Way Home tap into your super energetic side. Something like Seasons, however, scales it back toward a gentler, percussive approach. Is that all with your fingerstyle?
Exactly. I love playing fingerstyle, because it allows me to reach for different dynamics or expressions on the guitar. And I love to explore the ghost notes that bring out that rhythmic, percussive sound. The riff on Seasons is 100 percent fingerstyle, with a lot of that percussive approach. And it’s a very laidback track. I love having that contrast on the album.”
Something that keeps things unified across the album, though, is the way you use these quick, warbling whammy ringouts in your leads and melody lines. How have you developed your bar work over the years?
I played the LB1 throughout the whole record. It’s my main guitar for everything. It’s so versatile
“I love having the bar to accentuate the expressions that I try to put in notes. And I love exaggerating the vibrato [with] these flutters – when I pull back the bar to create these little screams. I love that trick.”
The album cover finds you holding the latest, all-black version of your signature LB1. Was that your number one guitar on this album?
“I played the LB1 throughout the whole record. It’s my main guitar for everything. It’s so versatile – I don’t need any other guitar to play my songs or to do a clinic or a show. Everything I need is in this one guitar. I didn’t specifically use that black one for recording… but the LB1 was the guitar.”
And those were loaded with your signature Seymour Duncans?
“Yes. And all the lead guitars, especially the high-gain guitars, were done with my JHS Violet pedal. I’ve been using it for years, but we officially released it last November.”
How did it feel to have the pedal ready for market?
“It was amazing to finally be able to show everyone [the finished product], although I had the prototype pedal on my board. I was traveling and doing clinics and tours, and everyone was so curious about it.”
Was the prototype painted, or was it just a straight-silver housing?
“It was purple but a different shade from the actual Violet.”
You’re stacking two of these in your chain. How differently are those set up?
“I have the violet-colored one set up as low gain right now, and the black [variant] set up as high gain. So, low gain I would use for tunes like Your Love, Not Alone and Redemption. The black one I’m using for all of the heavy riffs and leads.”
You made a video promoting the pedal alongside Josh Scott from JHS, and in that you were teaching him how to do divebombs, which he wasn’t necessarily picking up – or at the very least, he was feeling self-conscious about it. What do you remember about sharing pointers with him on that?
“Josh is such a nice guy. I had so much fun at JHS with him and the whole crew. I mean… it’s just not his style of playing! Not that I’m that special with the whammy bar and diving either… I also try my best. [Laughs]. He did great, I think.”
Was there anything else on your pedalboard for this album?
“Pretty much just the Violet.”
There’s an interesting harmonic tonality to Dear D, another super chunky song on Redemption. Where did this one come from?
“Well, I love drop D tuning, so that’s what the name suggests. Dropping down… brings different kinds of [riffs] out of me; it makes me play differently. And… oh, yeah… there’s a different pedal I use in the second solo. I used the Vezzpa from Beetronics; it’s like an octave-fuzz sound. So that was a different pedal that I used on this album. That’s it, though.”
You recently did a guest solo on Inerrata, the debut song from Alyssa Day’s new metal project, Absentia. How did that come about?
“I’ve followed Alyssa for a while; she’s an amazing player. Such a technical player but with so much feel. A while back she approached me and invited me to play a guest solo on the track and, of course, I accepted. I had so much fun playing the solo. I love heavier stuff; every now and then it’s fun for me to adventure along on those kinds of things as well.”
![ABSENTIA - Inerrata (ft. Lari Basilio) [FULL Playthrough] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/cxbXS5sXVUU/maxresdefault.jpg)
Does participating on a track like that make you want to add some of that technical djenting into your repertoire?
“Oh yeah, it’s so good! It’s always good to change up the air, you know – to refresh yourself.”
The whole point of playing the guitar is because it’s so much fun. That’s the reason that I picked up the guitar in the first place, because it brings me joy
Bringing it back to the idea of redemption, were there any ways you redeemed yourself on this record, as a guitarist?
“Ooh, that’s tough… I think it’s [just about having] the joy of playing in you. And to not be too hard on yourself. Because the whole point of playing the guitar is because it’s so much fun. That’s the reason that I picked up the guitar in the first place, because it brings me joy.
“It takes me to this happy place, writing songs and coming up with new ideas. Despite the fact that I had this sad moment during the process of making [Redemption], I think the outcome is very happy.”
Was there ever a period in there where you couldn’t find the joy in playing guitar?
“To be honest, I don’t think I ever lost that. The joy was always there with playing. I thank God for putting the guitar in my life, because it’s a place I can come to find… happiness.“
- Redemption is out now.
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
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