Today’s pre-dawn rise to go through my neglected Bandcamp feed paid dividends when I unearthed this Anglo-Brazilian gem from anaiis & Grupo Cosmo. Inspired by a previous artist residency in Salvador, anaiis returned to Brazil in 2023 to resume where she’d left off, fusing her nu-soul and futuristic singer songwriter tendencies with the joys of Brazilian music.
Staying at producer and percussionist Biel Basile’s house, further south this time in Ilhabela, she got into the local rhythm, not just the intensive writing and recording of working musicians, but communal dining, trips to the beach and late night tales, and you can certainly hear that sun kissed, informal and convivial atmosphere throughout the LP. This was an album made by friends, not an artist surrounded by studio mercenaries.
By the end of the week, without a computer in sight apparently, the bones of the LP were recorded and then presumably fleshed out back in London, if the subtle electronic embellishments and names of the string players are anything to go by. It’s classic Brazilian fare on the whole, but anaiis leaves her soulful and forward looking mark as she curiously explores and toys with the worlds of orchestral assisted MPBs, dream samba, acoustic roots and old and nu-bossa, even finding time for an afro-futuristic interlude. Great stuff.
Playlist Companion:
Find a track from the LP and other great far flung music in the
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