Brazilian music in a form you would not expect - definitely worth it.
Céu’s fourth studio album Tropix was released on March 25th this year and is by far her most electronically inspired release.
Céu is a Brazilian singer-songwriter from São Paulo who was born into a musical family, her father being a musician himself, and who knew from early on she wanted to become one too. The first instrument she learned to play was the classical guitar, but her own music got shaped by various other music genres from samba to soul, rhythm & blues to hip-hop, or even classical, jazz and afrobeat music, without ever losing a certain Brazilian touch. Céu cites Black culture as one of her passions and main musical influences although her last album has a more electronic feel to it, these influences have not disappeared. When asked about her references names like Jorge Ben, Lauryn Hill and Billie Holiday crop up.
Her previous albums already had a genre-defying quality, but never quite as much as on Tropix. The title of the album also speaks to this directly. On the one hand, she says there are tropical and Brazilian influences and on the other hand, vintage synth sounds, arpeggiators, drum machines and pop chord progressions. All of these elements, coupled with her suave and sensual voice, make for a really unique album.
Céu means sky, or heaven, in Portuguese and by listening to this album I have to say she wears her name well. It sometimes feels like the well-dosed balance between her voice and the multiple analog synthesizers could take you off your feet and have you float away, even if only for the duration of the track.
There are 12 songs on the album, all sung in Portuguese, save for“Chico Buarque Song” which is sung in English. Tropix also has a guest appearance by Tulipa Ruiz, a fellow Brazilian singer-songwriter, on “Pot-Pourri: Etílica / Interlúdio”. The first single off the album is “Perfume do Invisível”.