Sessa’s terminally chill music seems like he’s been lounging on the seaside or simply smoked a joint earlier than coming into the studio. But on his second album, Estrela Acesa (Burning Star), the São Paulo-born artist strikes previous the honeymoon part of his 2019 debut to precise each ardour and ache. Paying tribute to the music of Brazil within the basic kinds of Caetano Veloso or Antônio Carlos Jobim, Sessa augments his nylon string guitar, softly danceable rhythms, and ethereal vocal harmonies with understated orchestral preparations. There aren’t many up to date artists replicating the sounds of tropicália, bossa nova, or MPB as immaculately as Sessa does, however he favors minimalist prospers over the madcap strategy of a band like Os Mutantes. Singing in Portuguese, Sessa’s unhurried voice hovers in house like his hero Leonard Cohen.
Sergio Sayeg (aka Sessa) grew up in São Paulo’s remoted Sephardic Jewish neighborhood, starting his musical training within the synagogue. In highschool, he joined the band Garotas Suecas (Swedish Ladies) earlier than his father’s work introduced the household to New York Metropolis. All through the mid-2010s, Sessa joined Israeli rocker Yonatan Gat on bass, whereas spending his days working on the East Village report store Tropicália in Furs. It was right here that he immersed himself within the vibrant musical heritage of Brazil, as his debut album Grandeza step by step got here collectively. Over six or seven completely different recording periods between Yonatan Gat’s globe-trotting excursions, Sessa gathered whoever was accessible to affix him within the studio with solely the briefest of rehearsals.
Compared to the patchwork of Sessa’s first album, Estrela Acesa is silky clean. Its 12 quick songs had been primarily recorded on the island of Ilhabela, off the coast of São Paulo, the place percussionist and co-producer Biel Basile arrange a studio early within the pandemic. The album’s orchestral preparations by Belarusian composer Alex Chumak flash again to the refined psychedelic sound of Arthur Verocai’s 1972 debut. That is maybe most evident on Estrela Acesa’s melancholy instrumental, “Helena,” with shivering strings, timpani swells, and wordless vocals swirling round a gently strummed guitar. Because the music drifts in direction of its conclusion, it looks like watching ocean waves lapping onto the sand.
The temper is so copacetic that, with no working information of Portuguese or entry to the translated lyrics, it’s nearly not possible to know what Sessa is singing about. On the breakup music “Que Lado Você Dorme?” (“On What Aspect Do You Sleep?”), he intones “I really like you, I hate you, and every part in between” with no hint of emotion. “Dor Fodida” (“Fucking Ache”) equally bottles its emotions with pissed-off lyrics about commonplace struggles delivered softly and sweetly. “Pele da Esfera” (“Pores and skin Sphere”) settles right into a winding groove just like the dance get together it describes, although Sessa’s phrases sound extra romantically direct on the web page than they do popping out of his mouth.
