Mirantes Emocionais

Melo, a young Brazilian composer, guitarist and singer, with his band O Ministério da Consciência, presents his take on not so much post-tropicália, but contemporary MPB, that has been informed by hypnagogic pop with some dashes of psychedelia. Melo by name and mellow by nature, Mirantes Emocionais(Emotional Viewpoints) offers some seriously laid-back music bathed in 70s effects; on ‘Dama da Noite’ I could even detect brief flourishes of a yacht rock lick. Maybe you remember that atypical but utterly beguiling Black Sabbath track ‘Planet Caravan’, where Osbourne used a rotating Leslie speaker to sound like he was ‘floating through the universe’? Well, Melo uses a similar effect to give an otherworldly feel to his vocals. On ‘Zói Fundo’ he manages to sound distant and almost disengaged, and on ‘De Toda Sorte’ he positively flies off into space. ‘Do Colostro ao Osso’ picks up the pace with its bass lead, cut in the vein of 90s indie by Pavement or The Breeders while ‘Saidas’ is a delightfully lush way to (almost) close with a yearning bossa nova in the style of peers Sessa and Bruno Berle.