Passarinho

The Brazilian cultural archetype, the Passarinho or ‘Little Bird,’ serves as a harbinger of environmental disaster on this singer-songwriter's second album for Underdog Records of Lyon, near where Selva now lives. As on 2021's Navegar, the celebrated producer Bruno Patchworks is firmly at the helm. Of the ten new songs, the delicate acoustic final number, ‘Mar de Estrelas’, is probably the most convincing of the three slower tracks. Generally, though, Selva sounds more assured on the up-tempo numbers, which draw on his music heroes, from João Donato, Marcos Valle and Arthur Verocai to Bill Withers, Shuggie Otis and Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson. Allied to Patchworks’ feel for classic North American soul, there's a distinct retro feel throughout.

The title-track carries distant echoes of Santana's take on ‘Oye Como Va’, while there are hints of ‘Shaft’ in the woodwind arrangements on ‘Cantar Cantar’ especially. The slick bass and itchy guitar hook on ‘Chuva’ could almost come courtesy of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers. With a bewildering stylistic range of Afro-centric influences rooted in the kind of 70s samba funk base associated with Jorge Ben, it's tempting to overlook any gloomy ecological prognosis in favour of dancing blithely to the classy music.