Tradition meets with an appealing, arty haze on the new album by Brazilian Vinicius Cantuaria, Sol na Cara (Gramavision 79518; 38:42), with the sum effect being a dream-machined neo-bossa purr. The project was co-produced by new musical point man Arto Lindsay and Cantuaria himself, and with instruments played by Cantuaria and Ryuichi Sakamoto-all of whom collaborated on Lindsay’s own beguiling para-Brazilian album, The Subtle Body (Bar-None). Well-known in Brazil for his songwriting skills and musical breadth, Cantuaria relocated to New York and has made new musical friends in the course of stretching his musical outlook. Amidst a healthy stock of deceptively soothing original tunes, Cantuaria makes a respectful nod to the master, Antonio Carlos Jobim, offering a sumptuous version of Jobim’s too-little played tune “Este Seu Olhar.” Elsewhere, eerie drones and subtle dissonances hover around, vaporously, in the mix as the leader flexes his understated romanticism.
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