Country : Brazil Label : Tratore Genres and styles : Art Pop / Electronic / Música Popular Brasileira Year : 2020

Cristal

· by Rupert Bottenberg

São Paulo’s João Tenório enjoyed a former life as drum & bass producer Telefunken, back in the early oughts, but the comparisons to what’s been up to in recent years, cultivating this Semper Volt project, would be tenuous at best. Following two EPs in recent years, Tenório now presents his first full album under the name.

Barefoot folk-pop in a Brazilian vernacular is intimately and inextricably tangled up here in a rich tapestry of electronic beats and sounds, strange but benign electro-funk mutations, lurching, leftfield, raw, and rather organic. Substantial stuff, but never too weighty or unwieldy. The production help of Ivan “Boi” Gomes likely went a long way in this respect. He’s got a decent resume in this field of “nova MPB”, the next generation in música popular brasileira, taking greater liberties than ever with the rooted yet cosmopolitan hybrid sound that followed bossa nova. 

Tenório’s personality comes through in his affable and easygoing delivery, and the simple but effective poetry of his lyrics. A good example is the memorable third single “Se Juntou”, appealingly pluralist in its perspective. “Massa Crítica”, meanwhile, is a reflection in the aftermath of Bolsonaro’s election. The spirit is deflated, but not broken. “Quando forma multidão é força mística”, guest singer São Yantó earnestly intones – “When forming a crowd is a mystical force”.

It’s also just nice to note that Tenório’s father Carlos Balla, a drummer who’s worked with Djavan and Gal Costa, plays on two tracks here… keeping an eye on the boy, one assumes.

Latest 360 Content

Transforming Hiroshima mon amour into contemporary opera: Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind tell the story

Transforming Hiroshima mon amour into contemporary opera: Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind tell the story

Sparks – MAD!

Sparks – MAD!

“Hiroshima, mon amour”: An Evening to Remember

“Hiroshima, mon amour”: An Evening to Remember

Peter Murphy – Silver Shade

Peter Murphy – Silver Shade

Ken Pomeroy – Cruel World

Ken Pomeroy – Cruel World

Art of the Line: Klangkarussell’s Euro Vision at SAT

Art of the Line: Klangkarussell’s Euro Vision at SAT

Festival des Saveurs | Closing With Reggae

Festival des Saveurs | Closing With Reggae

Centroamérica – a powerful docu-play about truth and connection in an age of distance and denial

Centroamérica – a powerful docu-play about truth and connection in an age of distance and denial

Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Tamir Barzilay – Phosphene Journal

Tamir Barzilay – Phosphene Journal

The best ‘’Candlelight concert‘’ ever.

The best ‘’Candlelight concert‘’ ever.

Men I Trust – Equus Caballus

Men I Trust – Equus Caballus

The Halluci Nation – Path of the Baby Face

The Halluci Nation – Path of the Baby Face

A lap steel guitar choir and an angel to end the Innovations en concert 24-25 season

A lap steel guitar choir and an angel to end the Innovations en concert 24-25 season

The OSM and Abel Selaocoe: Evenings When You’d Like to Stop Time

The OSM and Abel Selaocoe: Evenings When You’d Like to Stop Time

Reaching for the sky: Francis Choinière’s challenge to end his OPCM’s 10th season

Reaching for the sky: Francis Choinière’s challenge to end his OPCM’s 10th season

Piknic 3: A Little Bit of Everything Under the Sun

Piknic 3: A Little Bit of Everything Under the Sun

Cazzu – Latinaje

Cazzu – Latinaje

Stereolab – Instant Holograms On Metal Film

Stereolab – Instant Holograms On Metal Film

SMCQ | In memoriam Jocelyn Morlock

SMCQ | In memoriam Jocelyn Morlock

Abbey Road at Festival Classica

Abbey Road at Festival Classica

Mira Choquette – Hier encore

Mira Choquette – Hier encore

Jared Dunn; Anna Gorecka – Gorecki’s World of the Piano

Jared Dunn; Anna Gorecka – Gorecki’s World of the Piano

Subscribe to our newsletter