Review | Songlines

Flea Market Music

Rating: ★★★

View album and artist details

Album and Artist Details

Artist/band:

Leonardo Marques

Label:

180G

November/2022

Leonardo Marques, guitarist of Udora and sound recordist to the likes of Milton Nascimento, returns with a fourth solo project, Flea Market Music. ‘I imagine this record to be just like a flea market,’ he says in the notes, ‘an ensemble of nostalgia, a collage of memories, of dreams, ideas, sounds, words, feelings, places, eras and styles.’ This idea forms the sonic base of this long-awaited album – it’s been three years since his last, Early Bird.

As the title suggests, this album has a very humble, vintage feel and was recorded exclusively at Marques’ own Ilha do Corvo studio in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The chilled vibe is pinned by brushed snares, bossa-style guitar comping and layered, dreamy vocals. I especially enjoyed ‘Tall, Tan and Young’ (a reference to ‘The Girl from Ipanema’, perhaps?), which boasts wonky electric organ and slide guitars accompanying Marques’ layered vocals, this time in English, which slide between notes mirroring the guitars – a nice touch. ‘Compasso do Desassossego’ opens the album with a cheery arrangement, backed by brushed snares and interlocking horn lines, representing well what’s to come on the rest of the disc. Overall I’d perhaps like to see a bit more variation in terms of style and soundworld, just for a bit of diversity.

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