Trabalhos Carnivoros (Mais Um Discos, 2014)
It’s apparent from the opening strains of Brazil’s songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Amabis on his latest Tabalhos Carnivoros out on the Mais Um Discos label that this is not your standard singer-songwriter fair. Lush with smart and savvy instrumentation, Trabalhos Carnivoros is possessed by a loungy coolness that comes across as easy and genuine.
Having worked with the likes of Rita Redshoes on her Life Is a Second of Love, Lucas Santana, Criolo, Ceu and Tulipa on his previous recording Memorias Luso/Africanas, Amabis clears the way with his own vocals for Trabalhos Carnivoros.
Subtly moody and craftily charming, Trabalhos Carnivoros opens with some dishy drums and strings for title track “Trabalhos Carnivoros” before listeners get the full force of the orchestration which includes some searing guitar lines and Amabis’s quiet vocals. This track gets better and better with offerings like lanky Brazilian flair found on “Tiro” and the coolly elegant “Pena Mais Que Perfeita” where Amabis’s vocals float delicately against guitar.
Trabalhos Carnivoros is all about nuance and delicacy of vocals against instrumentation as is apparent with tracks like “Um Bom Filme” and “Menino Horrivel” where simplicity reigns against simple rhythms and maybe the razor edge of guitar licks.
Trabalhos Carnivoros is all about mood. Its reflective space and graceful vocals make Trabalhos Carnivoros a quiet ride to the center of this singer/songwriter’s soulfulness.
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Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena’s Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena’s Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
