WORDS Brian Carroll
Brace yourselves for chill: The second wave of Bossa Nova, oddly enough, may soon be upon us, and on their seventh album, Saudade, appropriately worldly D.C. Trip- Hop duo Thievery Corporation makes a new case for this often maligned, underdog genre’s revival.
Though a few scattered but earnest
attempts to kick-start a full-on Bossa Nova wave over the past three decades have often come off too heavy-handed, the production falsely loud and glossy, undercooked, or ironic (blame
Casio and thrift-store organs), nevertheless, due to the fact that its metronomic, consistently
unchanging beats can be easily programmed using modern music- making tools, garnering both easy international credibility and sex appeal, it appears American producers are putting their noses to the grindstone of Jobim and Gilberto songbooks anew and devoting themselves to fake it ‘till they make it.
Tightly balanced and restrained in form, Bossa Nova is an easy genre on which to screw up the production, so you can expect to see plenty of the bad ideas that have doomed previous revival attempts reemerge as this temperate wave runs its course, especially through established artists already invested in these bad ideas. However, the genre has many stylistic limbs, and right out of the gates the new album from Thievery Corporation nails the core with only a modicum of spectacle.
For the uninitiated, Bossa Nova is a complex Brazilian style which slows down to a crawl ultra-fast African Samba rhythms (the parent genre still probably too advanced
for accurate regurgitation on an iPad) and pairs these rhythms with slowly morphing, distantly-related Jazz chords. This allows singers to do the heavy melodic lifting, arrangements stereotypically played light as a feather via the exclusive use of latin percussion and classical guitar plucking. This isn’t exactly three-chord monte we’re talking about here, but it does often serve to separate the men from the boys, so to speak, in several ways, as the genre is often acclaimed by both genders as one of the sexiest this side of Pornbient (ha!).
The album at hand’s title, Saudade, also a recently “NPR- ed” buzzword, is the emotional fuel that propels the Bossa Nova. The Portuguese noun is supposed to be a quality indescribable in English, but ain’t nobody got time for that! If we figured out “Savoir Faire,” we can do this as well. Basically, saudade is a feeling of melancholy anticipation, of wishing and longing, often applied to unrequited love, encapsulated IN and illustrated AS Bossa Nova. Sort of like Emo, but for people who have clean carpets and some experience with the opposite sex other than resenting them.
Enough context, right? How’s the album? It’s light, clean, but downright masterful, filled with beauty, nearly Bossa Nova perfection. I say nearly because while the physical arrangements here are amazingly well-crafted, some of the digital gloss in the background, like not-quite-convincing synth string sections and cymbal rises, do detract from the otherwise fantastic job the two-piece has done. On paper, the duo followed a solid outline for making an album for the attention spans of 2014 listeners: Most of the tracks clock in under two minutes, all but one feature vocals by different female singers, and rather than bundle strong songs together, every other song is great. The album features soulful but not showy singing in not only English, but also Italian, French, and, of course, Portuguese. This may be a deal-killer for some, but since these languages are the prettiest, spongiest on Earth, even if you’re the sort turned off by movies with subtitles you can pretend the songs are about whatever lovely subject you desire while listening.
Long time Thievery Corporation fans and dabblers of
their catalog alike will be pleased to know that the duo’s beats often sound both vintage and impressively timeless here, and the production, while faintly electronic, doesn’t always sound like it, approaching the organic qualities of Portishead and early 60’s R&B while often channeling famous 1980’s British songstress Sade on its best tracks. Sixties soundtrack lovers will fawn over the patented Henry Mancini strings in the mix of one early standout track that washes up on the album’s shore called “No More Disguise,” while the closer, “Depth of My Soul” has a distinct Billie Holiday vibe. Perhaps the best track is a warm, anglicized curiosity named “Firelight” that acts as the perfect overall introduction to the album.
Saudade is a breakthrough for the duo because unlike a lot of their work, it doesn’t have a real time stamp on it. Yes, the cymbals tend to do that build thing you hear in modern Lounge a little too often on the flipside, like the before and after scenes from an episode of Hoarders, but since Thievery Corporation have made such a good album otherwise, we have to return them to the wild streets of D.C. with only a light slap on the wrists. A convincing illusion, after hearing this breezy cool record you’ll want more Bossa Nova - and some of related, classy Lounge stuff the band peppers it with, too - not only because at forty-two minutes the album still felt short, but it acts as an antidote to what ails both modern American music and society.
It’s an escape to exotic lands, it’s respite, it’s true romance, and if you’re already a fan of the increasingly re-popularized genres of Trip Hop and Bossa Nova, it’s
an affirmation that you’re not crazy for being more into them lately. A likely sign of even more interesting things to come, Bossa Nova attempts a rebirth here, and Thievery Corporation, by subtly tweaking its golden ratios rather than attempt to restuff it in too much tacky modernity, has finally made a keeper.
If you’re into vinyl, this is a great pick. No other release in the month of April will likely conform to the format quite as naturally, because unlike most modern albums, this one actually works better the lower the fidelity of the device on which you play it. A listen on a phone or a laptop goes a very long way to completely hide the semi-detrimental slickness the band couldn’t resist sometimes (but not always) including.
An unexpected set of real, live songs from a band formerly known too often as middle of the road and mostly- instrumental, Saudade is an impressive genre family exploration, especially on a technical, engineer-friendly level, but as I said, though actually fairly lengthy by modern standards, it comes off as short – maybe because the songs are short, or perhaps this reviewer was just starting to get comfortable with it as it was almost over. If you’re into Bossa Nova, you can’t miss it. If you have no idea what the hell I’ve been talking about, this album makes an excellent introduction to the sound that you can digest without feeling overloaded by information. If you’re somewhere in between, steal it! I kid, I kid. It’s definitely worth a spin, so for fence- sitters, track it down online so you can make up your mind to spend money on it after hearing it.
Remember, Record Store Day is April 19th.