About

Cotton Art Box is the indie-folk-pop project of Lisbon-born musician Ricardo Preschel. Rooted in the 1990s Lisbon scene, where fado and street noise mingled, his journey has moved through Berlin’s experimental pulse and London’s restless indie underground.

Ricardo’s first band, V Imperio (1997), signed by a major, was a Portuguese folk (fado-inspired) project that set the stage for everything that followed; a journey defined not by flash but by persistence, texture, and soul. Cotton Art Box emerged later, subtle, introspective, and unhurried. It’s a project shaped by long travels, shifting cities, and moments that matter only when you stop to notice them.

The music is sparse but deliberate, layered with nostalgia, worn like denim, and carried by Ricardo’s instinct for melody. Beneath it all, Lisbon’s saudade still flickers. This is music for night trains, quiet kitchens, and open windows.

Cotton Art Box isn’t chasing trends. It’s chasing something slower: stillness, meaning, and the kind of beauty that doesn’t shout.