Saudade

The North American duo of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton have long mixed world music flavours into their electronic dance music but Saudade feels like a significant departure. Their first all-Brazilian album, it’s also the most organic set Thievery Corporation have ever recorded. Over a rich and elegant fusion of samba, jazz and electronica, five different female vocalists grace the album’s 13 songs and although Bebel Gilberto isn’t among them, the parallel with her 2000 Suba-produced electronic bossa nova masterpiece Tanto Tempo is inescapable. Long- serving Corporation cohort LouLou Ghelichkhani sings on five tracks, including perhaps the best of them, the ethereal opener ‘Decollage’, with its burnished mix of strings, electric piano and acoustic guitars. Nouvelle Vague singer Karina Zeviani - whose ultra-cool tones you may know from the Sky Sports’ use of ‘Ever Fallen in Love’ for one of its themes - guests on the shimmering ‘Nos Dois’ and the darker ‘Meu Nego’. Elin Melgarejo, the Argentinian chanteuse, Natalia Clavier and former Bitter:Sweet singer Shana Halligan complete the vocal hand. The singer-songwriter Federico Aubele and master Brazilian percussionist Roberto Santos are among those heard to potent effect in the gossamer-like sound-bed, which mixes authentic instruments with the subtlest of electronic touches. Lovely stuff.