He is part of the bands Los Hermanos, Orquestra Imperial, and Little Joy, and released his first solo record, Cavalo, in Brazil in late 2013 and worldwide in May 2014.

He studied Journalism at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro ("PUC-Rio"), where he met Marcelo Camelo and Rodrigo Barba.

[citation needed] On their debut album, Los Hermanos (1999), Amarante contributed very little, playing transverse flute and singing the backing vocals.

On the band's second album, Bloco do Eu Sozinho (2001), Amarante was able to show his real musical quality, playing guitar together with Marcelo and writing more songs.

He recorded "Sentimental" (considered by Dado Villa-Lobos from Legião Urbana to be the best song of 2001), "Retrato pra Iaiá", and "Cher Antoine" (sung in French).

With their third album, Ventura (2003), came Amarante's national recognition as a great songwriter; he wrote songs of indisputable quality,[citation needed] like "Último Romance", "O velho e o moço", "Um par", "Do Sétimo Andar", and "Deixa o Verão".

In 2007, Amarante joined with The Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti and American musician, singer, and songwriter Binki Shapiro to form the trio Little Joy, a Brazilian/American rock supergroup.

When Amarante came to work in Los Angeles with Devendra Banhart on his 2007 album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon they renewed the acquaintance and started making music, then Binki was brought on board.

6 on the Latin Pop Digital Songs around the 2015 series premiere[7] and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music.