Tim Bernardes aspires towards grand statements. In 2017, the Brazilian songwriter and multi-instrumentalist launched his bold debut Recomeçar (Restart). Inside its conceptual framework, Bernardes flexed his mental and compositional muscle tissues, specializing in new beginnings and cycles of frustration in love and life. His stream of consciousness lyrical strategy was matched by wandering orchestral excursions that strayed nicely past typical string-backed indie-folk songs. It was a formidable file, typically sounding extra like a piece of musical theater than a conventional pop album, however its uncompromising construction at occasions stood in the best way of Bernardes’ songcraft: There have been many memorable moments however not essentially memorable songs.
Since then, Bernardes has discovered subtler methods to mix his excessive aspirations along with his innate reward as a songwriter. He has collaborated with the legendary Tropicália singer Gal Costa and had a visitor spot on Fleet Foxes’ newest album, and his personal music has sanded down his sprawling worldview to reveal necessities: “Nascer, Viver, Morrer,” the primary monitor from his newest album, Mil Coisas Invisíveis (A Thousand Invisible Issues), incorporates lyrics about life, demise, and rebirth with a simple construction and easy guitar-and-drums framework. At just below two minutes, the track appears extra relaxed regardless of the extraordinary emotion of Bernardes’ voice. Quite than encompass himself with compositional prospers, it opens the album with simplicity and a crystal clear imaginative and prescient.
The remainder of Mil Coisas Invisíveis is simply as concise and well-crafted. “Meus 26” ties collectively political themes of isolationism and globalism with private reflections, balancing ghostlike orchestral swells with easy acoustic guitar enjoying and a solitary vocal take. Bernardes’ vocals drive the track by way of variations of depth, shifting with ease between a whisper, a full-bodied chest voice, and hovering falsetto, the entire of the association pulsating with him.
Bernardes is the first instrumentalist on the album, enjoying guitar, synth, piano, percussion, and bass, in addition to arranging the string and horn sections. Regardless of the abundance of textures, the manufacturing is delicate, exact, and meticulously organized. Small bells and zills ring out to punctuate a change of tempo; spectral string preparations float out and in of the combination, commanding consideration solely when vital. On “Esse Ar,” claves laced in reverb bounce within the distance whereas a quiet synth fades out and in, including a psychedelic contact to his bossa-nova heritage. On “BB (Garupa de Moto Amarela),” Bernardes contrasts his whimsical guitar enjoying with violin, mimicking the enjoyment and drama of the love story in its lyrics.
Bernardes’ best help comes from his influences, which he isn’t shy to come clean with: “I consider within the Beatles,” he sings, believably, on the luxurious and monumental “Mistificar.” Different songs, akin to “Falta,” sound a bit extra relaxed, preferring the loungy, nylon-stringed tinge of ’60s and ’70s Brazilian fusion and vocal takes that generally recall a hoarse Jorge Ben. Irrespective of the place he’s drawing from, Bernardes is all in favour of disrupting that custom, both by way of surreal orchestration or baroque concord traces. Nodding to his nation’s musical legacy in addition to indie-folk music from the U.S., it’s a kind of alt-bossa nova that sounds as very like Grizzly Bear because it does Caetano Veloso.
