Delta Estácio Blues

Best known as Metá Metá’s vocalist, Marçal spent four years making this album, a lengthy process in which co-producer Kiko Dinucci created base rhythms (inspired by hip-hop methodology) that were sent to fellow musicians to add vocal melodies and other instrumentation before then being refined and sung by Marçal. The result is a thrillingly energetic, slightly chaotic and occasionally surreal dissection of contemporary Brazil.

Maracatu gets distorted in a whirlwind of sound without ever losing its rhythm on ‘Vi de Relance a Coroa’; a call to the Afro-Brazilian orixá Oxúm is weighed down by nervy sax and industrial percussion; and the title-track carries tropicália’s penchant for mixing the avant-garde with pop, its lyrics cheekily imagining that Robert Johnson had learned the samba instead of selling his soul to the devil before creating blues’ greatest myth. Lead single ‘Crash’ is Marçal at her most aggressive as she raps graphically about urban life over a frenetic beat. The subtext to the whole album is the political situation in Brazil, and it’s hard not to think that it has made an impact, such is the often antagonistic sound of the album, with songs about pollution and consumerism also adding to a feeling of disquiet.