Grandeza

Initially known for his collaboration with experimental guitarist Yonatan Gat and psych-rockers Garotas Suecas, Sessa makes his hotly awaited solo debut. The whole album encapsulates the vintage sound of Brazilian guitar-centred songs, with hints of tropicália, psychedelia and bossa nova in the vein of Leonard Cohen or Tom Jobim (associations not made lightly). The overarching minimalism of the album is a step away from the flashy, virtuosic vibe of many contemporary artists. Grandeza is mostly arranged for just guitar, bass, vocals and percussion (bar some juicy background woodwind on ‘Gata Mágica’) – a very minimal set-up in the context of many current Brazilian performers, but a go-to for the likes of Jobim or Cohen.

Inflections of Afro-Brazilian percussion heard in ‘Tesão Central’ and ‘Dez Total (Filhos de Gandhy)’ are used to great effect. Sessa's soft, understated and very bossa vocals are accompanied by a chorus of female singers drenched in vintage reverb. In ‘Infinitamente Nu’, the vocal duties are left solely to the backing singers, with ‘la-ya-la’ vocalisations taking the place of lyrics. Grandeza mostly consists of songs little more than two minutes long (a sampling producer's dream), giving the pieces a sketch-like feel – snippets of Sessa's sound-world, which often touches on parts of Devendra Banhart's fantastic Smokey Rolls Down Tunder Canyon.