It feels a little exotic this week – Brazilian jazz pianist Amaro Freitas plays music inspired by a recent trip to the Amazon. Bristol’s The Fauns blend shoegaze with pop sounds on their most recent record.
Amaro Freitas
Y’Y
2024, 9/10
Brazilian jazz pianist Amaro Freitas comes from the coastal city of Recife. His music reflects the sounds of his hometown – his record label’s website says “From the Afro-Brazilian maracatu born on the sugar plantations of slavery to the high-intensity carnival rhythms of frevo and baião, Amaro’s heavily percussive approach to jazz is as indebted to these Pernambuco traditions as it is to Coltrane, Parker and Monk.”
But his most recent record takes inspiration from a sojourn in the Amazon rainforest – Freitas recently spent time 4,000 km inland from his homeland. He describes Y’Y as a “call to live, feel, respect, and care for nature, recognizing it as our ancestor.”
Tracks are inspired by the legends of the forest. ‘Mapinguari (Encantado da Mata)’ is about a powerful spirit, a hairy and hungry cyclops with a mouth at his bellybutton”. The breakdown of ‘Uiara (Encantada Da Água) – Vida E Cura’ is named for the pink river dolphins of the Amazon, and it’s a good example of Freitas successfully modernising his jazz – the breakdown feels like house music.
Sometimes Freitas’s piano fights for attention among skittering percussion. But there are gorgeous piano moments, like the beautiful figure that runs through the standout track ‘Sonho Ancestral’.
Y’Y is gorgeous, one of my favourite records from this year thus far.
The Fauns
How Lost
2024, 7.5/10
Bristol is known as the home of trip-hop. But four-piece band The Fauns tap into another British trend from the same era, shoegaze. But their take on shoegaze updates the tradition, adding heavy, energetic drums to the shoegaze sound.
It sounds new and exciting, like on opener ‘Mixtape Days’ which blends hollowed-out guitars with driving rhythms and Alison Garner’s breathy vocals.
The full-bodied riff of the title track is another great moment, while ‘Doot Doot’ sounds somewhere between the Cocteau Twins and Stereolab.
The record becomes more conventional in the second half as the tempos settle – ‘Clear’ and ‘Spacewaves’ are much closer to conventional shoegaze. But ‘Dark Discotheque’ is a second-side standout, mixing dance-oriented beats with shoegaze textures.
How Lost sounds fresh and exciting, a rare feat for a 2024 album.
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Two very different picks, who are both new to me. While it seems to be more on the experimental side, Amaro Freitas’ album spontaneously spoke to me. Based on sampling some of the tunes, you can literally picture him being in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. This is pretty cool stuff!
I like both of them…totally different styles and the first one was very atmospheric.
It’s kind of fun how much access we have to music now – can listen to Brazilian jazz, then jump to a Bristol shoegaze-pop band.
I was thinking about that earlier. We have the world’s music and media at our fingertips. It’s amazing really.
Feels like a tiny handful of songs get all the plays, with people not stepping out of their comfort zone. It’s obviously a lot of effort to absorb new music though, so it’s understandable.
It does take a lot of effort. It’s worth it though if you can find something you like. I’m listening to new artists now more since I was in my 20s.