The Breakdown
Chance happenings sometimes take music to the right place. For Spanish-German, Cologne-based singer-songwriter/arranger Wolfgang Pérez that place is his new succulent album ‘Só Ouço’ out now via Hive Mind Records. Two albums into Pérez’s pop fusion experimentation, ‘Who Cares Who Cares’ from 2021 and last year’s ‘Ahora’, the thrilling tones of Música Popular Brasileira were already oozing through his work. Then, while studying composition in Rio his interest went beyond watching, listening and learning. He jammed, he formed a band, they played shows and at one gig his tunes caught the ear of Angelo Wolf, sound engineer connected to Rio’s recent resurgence as MPB central (e.g. Bala Desejo, Dora Morelenbaum, Ana Frango Elétrico et al). From here the momentum picked up and the journey to ‘Só Ouço’ began.
It’s an album which you soon realise comes closer to the Zé/Veloso end of the Tropicalia spectrum and which harbours more progressive, experimental intentions than dance pop inclinations. Those Dominico Lancelotti, Kiko Dinucci or Thiago França contemporary diversions immediately come to mind. The spacious, free floating Radio opens, dreamily drifting and folky, zithering acoustic guitars, the rustle of interference and a spiralling vocal melody from Pérez and guest Carol Maia. This pairing provides a counterpoint that’s perfect, Wolfgang’s clear, straight tone softened by Maia’s purer, Gal Costa coo make for a contrast laced with subtle mystery. The song’s an understated, gentle introduction which disappears in an eerie swell of effects before the orchestral blast of Tristeza hits. This second track comes with that maximalist mindset which ‘Só Ouço’ producer Angelo Wolf helped engineer on Bala Desejo’s illustrious ‘Sim,Sim,Sim’ album. A smoochy samba at heart, the song soon swells with flute and brass colour, all woven with a Verocai sensitivity. Around the fringes though there are unexpected pauses, booming minor chord comments and a synth soaked, staccato orchestral loop to close. It’s as if Hermeto Pascoal got hold of the score.
Yes, ‘Só Ouço’ is an album which teasingly never lets you settle. With his core band of Luis Magalhaes (bass), Paulo Emmery (guitar) and Pedro Fonte on drums, Pérez pushes into a similar alt-rock space as his Hive Mind label mate Ricardo Das Gomes. Tá Errado prowls to the pace of a ratcheting, industrial beat. The brass section pumps wildly, Pérez sneers and the distortion brings wired agitation for a while, until we’re whisked into a breakneck no-wave Samba coda, complete with skronk. The album’s title track may be less frantic but it still fizzes with math rock complexity and Radiohead-like guile, the ringing guitar patterns, the soft anxious vocal, the bustling rhythms and a sudden sting in the tail.
Simmering enticingly beneath the surface of this singular release is the work of that great pop abstractionist Arto Lindsey with Brazilian no-waver Thiago Nassif. Almost necessarily the ingenious Nassif appears here, on Pérez’s angular cover of the Cartola samba-canção classic O Mundo É Um Moinho. While Wolfgang plays it straight(ish) on acoustic, Nassif’s alien electric guitar signals ghost the whole song, squirming and whirring, a subplot which brings a new tension to this sombre standard. Elsewhere experimentation gets pushed further on the surreal, slow core ballad Só No Sonho. There’s a prog-like inventiveness to this cut. The church bell tolls, Pérez and Maia’s close harmonies unwind prayer-like and the drums skitter nervously. Reverse tapes, looping choirs and sound artist Bella Comsom brings some ethereal sonics to the whole psychedelic spin. Imagine Carla Bley in Tropicalia mode and you’ll at least have a reference point for this illusive soundscape.
Any music drawn to MPB’s enduring influence can’t ignore its magical lushness and on ‘Só Ouço’, Wolfgang Pérez more than fulfils these expectations. The gorgeous E De Repente Acabou needs only voice, flutes, double bass and guitar to conjure up a timeless pastoral flow. Waltzing effortlessly, with a José Mauro swirl of strings, the song takes some tantalising left turns along the way but Pérez clearly knows when to hold back on the distraction. Similar retro sixties vibes get explored more quizzically with the quirky avant-pop of Leva-Me Pra Casa. Shifting between a Nouveau Vague film song and a wild, blues rock swing, all bendy licks and Vanessa Rodrigues’s giddy Hammond, may sound just too clever but with Pérez taking such risks always prove worth it.
The making of ‘Só Ouço’ obviously captures a significant time for its composer, living amongst the sounds which had always been one of his inspirations. The energy, joy and creative lift which those eighteen months delivered resonates through this collection and feeds through to the listener. You can’t take in the final track, Nem Quero Asas, without a sway of recognition and a smile. “We’re nearly there” the voice-grab jokes as a vaudeville big band strikes up and a ‘Hey Jude’ sing along takes over, thanks to Perez’s ‘friends at my farewell party’ choir. It’s an Absurdist twist which makes for a fitting crescendo to an audacious album. Wolfgang Pérez has seized his moment and with ‘Só Ouço’ looks set to be a part of that irresistible Nu-Tropicalia surge.
Get your copy of Só Ouço’ by Wolfgang Pérez from your local record store or direct from Hive Mind Records HERE
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