Sensual, fresh, breezy, cool and easy, jazzy – just about everything’s already been said about this album that could be said this briefly. Not that this comes as any real surprise. Released in 2000 to both commercial and critical acclaim in its hometown of Brazil as well as internationally, the full debut release by South America’s Bebel Gilberto is nothing if not romantic. But being daughter of the reverent bossa nova innovator, Joao Gilberto – and possibly the most loved musician in Brazil – this was going to be a rather difficult pot to boil over.
What did come as a surprise though was to learn that she was not the daughter of Astrud Gilberto, as I’d first imagined – but the step-daughter. Why should this matter? Because signature wise they’re so very similar. Whilst maybe not quite as cool and aloof as say her stepmother’s take on ‘Girl From Ipanema’ it’s by and large the same delivery, both in terms of arrangement and vocal treatment. The crackling intro to ‘Samba da Bencao’? Referencing? Genetics? Both?
On the otherhand, as an illustration of how Bossa Nova can be wrenched from the calm retro underworld of 60s nostalgia and mobilized in this brash new century, it remains faultless. Beginning sparsely and acoustically before gliding into an unruffled pool of mellow grooves and electricity, the album tracks the maturation as well as the new growth of the bossa sound. It’s slinky, it’s classic and it slows the world to a moderate hum with warm and gentle climate.
What could be sexier and more refreshing than slipping into the cool lapping bath foam of ‘Tanto Tempo’?
Very few things, Bud.