Agôra

This prolific world-jazz trio from São Paulo boosted their profile in 2020 with a BBC 6 Music Album of the Year nomination for their eighth record, Angela. Recorded in Cologne, where keyboardist Henrique Gomide has settled, the follow-up adds guest vocals to a mix of sparkling electric piano, bass and drums that conjures a meeting of Azymuth and Head Hunters-era Herbie Hancock. There's a dash of Roy Ayers, too, in the ethereal ‘Dreams’, with vocals supplied by Brazilian guests Xênia França and Zé Leônidas. The latter also features on ‘Carrossel’ and the funky single, ‘Sábado’, which packs plenty into two and a half minutes.

The title of album closer ‘Oblique Sunshine’ suggests the prevalent dreamlike quality throughout: one which Matthias Schriefl's lone trumpet intensifies on the lovely ‘Kismeti’. Jembaa Groove's Eric Owusu's hazy vocal paints the opener, ‘Asase’, a dappled shade of Azymuth. The voices of South African guests Bongani Givethanks and Mpho Nkuzo on the Afro-Brazilian percussion jam, ‘Ndiyakhangela’, could almost represent a brief but intense phase of rapid eye movement. Caixa Cubo's approach is minimalist, even down to the parsimonious running time – a minor gripe: like any seductive dream, you don't want it to end.