A journey from Portugal to the Netherlands that defines his voice between sci-fi glow and whispered tenor.

Tilburg-based saxophonist and composer Fabio de Almeida steps into his own with Requiem for a Dragon, a full-length studio album born from uprooting, rebuilding, and learning to love the blank page. Set for release on February 13, 2026 via DOX Records, the album explores transformation as both sound and story.

After years of exploring different musical selves in Portugal — and a post-pandemic move to the Netherlands — Fabio set out to make a record that trades noise for nerve: music as an act of emancipation. The “dragon” of the title represents fear itself, not a funeral, but a shedding. Requiem here means renewal, not ending but beginning again.

Musically, Requiem for a Dragon threads two of Fabio’s core obsessions: the search for beauty in the spiritual clarity and harmonic colors of Olivier Messiaen, and a subtle 1970s sci-fi patina shaped by synth textures that nod to Vangelis (Blade Runner) and the eerie optimism of films like Logan’s Run.

“I wanted those colors, but to use them through a more urban, jazz-oriented lens — not in the classical language,” Fabio explains. His electronics are purposefully ambiguous: “Delays that feel like reverbs, reverbs that tick like delays — you can’t quite tell what’s happening, only that it’s alive.”

Across eight tracks, the album drifts between lyrical jazz, ambient electronics, and cinematic improvisation: whispering tenor sax, Prophet synths tinged with a Baroque-recorder hue, ultra-low electric bass, drums pushed to the front, and an airy halo of electronics. Think painterly gestures rather than designerly polish.

“I’ve always felt like a painter trapped in a designer’s workflow,” Fabio says. “This album is me choosing the canvas, breaking the fear, and letting awkwardness and beauty coexist.” 

Credits

Recorded at Fattoria Musica (Osnabrück) with engineer Stephan van Wylick and finished by Alessandro Mazzieri, the album captures that breath-and-glow tenor sound without forcing it. The quartet — Fabio de Almeida (tenor saxophone, electronics), Sjoerd van Eijk (synths/keys), Stef Joosten (electric bass), and Pedro Nobre (drums) — moves as one creature: sometimes breathing fire, or just breathin