Review Summary: An accomplished, vibrant, original and thrilling mix of Brazilian popular music styles and alternative rock - with kick-ass guitar solos.
Jota Erre is an artist who has hit upon a winning formula. The Pernambucano singer-songwriter updates the rhythms and motifs of MPB with modern alt-rock influences to great effect. His second album, Binário, is a triumphant success, featuring a wide variety of styles unified by a stridently confident songwriting voice and superb musicianship.
The artist is from Abreu e Lima, a suburb of Recife known for its tradition of maracatu de nação, a spectacular Afro-Brazilian performance genre incorporating dance, costume and music, with roots going back hundreds of years. Many of the rhythms of the album are informed by this tradition, using typical percussion intruments from maracatu. Binário stretches a wide net, though, and many other Brazilian influences, particularly Northeastern ones such as forró and baião, are also present.
Not every element of the album comes out of Brazil. Radiohead are a declared influence, and one that is mostly audible in many of the guitar parts, the minor-key jangling of which is sometimes reminiscent of In Rainbows and songs such as Let Down. The more general impression, though is of a contemporary MPB artist; the alt-rock sensibility gives the album little touches that add another level of interest and elevate it above many of its peers.
These various elements are blended together with a panache that makes it all sound natural; the album is a veritable feast of different kinds of fusion. It's hard for me to pick favourites, but a particular highlight for me is Condor, which fuses rock with forró in a way I haven't heard before. The guitars are out-and-out rock, and the song climaxes with a great guitar solo (the album is full of great solos - if, like me you've been wondering where all the guitar solos have gone from modern rock music, it would seem that Jota Erre has taken them), but the rhythm and melody are pure forró, and of course there's a lovely accordion part.
The opening track, Caco, is another highlight, combining tribal drumming with rock riffing in a way I actually have heard from a couple of other Brazilian artists such as Metá Metá, but where that band has a more rock style of vocals, Jota Erre is influenced as a singer by legendary fellow Pernambucano singer-songwriter Alceu Valença, which gives the track a groove and flow which Metá Metá lack.
The ballads on the album are great, too. The highlight in this regard is In, which reminds me a little of the Mineiro singer-songwriter Jonathan Tadeu, but a little less emo-rock and a bit more MPB, particularly rhythmically - there's a bossa nova vibe to the drumming which fits the song perfectly. It also features - of course - a kick-ass guitar solo.
Production-wise, Binário scores over what are often the overly digitized sounds of Brazilian indie music by incorporating analogue techniques. The album has a clean, crisp sound with just the right amount of bleed; it's the kind of production that makes you think "wow, this would be AMAZING live".
(Incidentally, Jota Erre is a very successful touring musician, so I'm almost certain that it is amazing live.)
Overall, I'd say that if you listen to one Brazilian album from the last year, you should probably make it this one. Although, if you do listen to it, it's unlikely to be the only one you listen to, because you will definitely want more. It's accomplished, vibrant, original and thrilling. And did I mention it has kick-ass guitar solos?
