Sessa – Pequena Vertigem de Amor (Mexican Summer, 2025)
Brazilian songwriter and guitarist Sessa recently released Pequena Vertigem De Amor (A Little Vertigo of Love). The São Paulo artist, born Sergio Sayeg, frames Pequena Vertigem De Amor as a response to personal change and a shift in priorities brought on by becoming a father. He describes the songs as a mix of personal chronicles and quiet meditations on “experiencing something so big that you realize your insignificant size in space and time,” noting that music, for the first time, moved “from the center to the side” of his life and began to merge with everyday routines.
The album moves away from the guitar-led minimalism of Grandeza and Estrela Acesa. Sessa recorded the new material to magnetic tape at Estúdio Cosmo in São Paulo, the studio he cofounded with co-producer and drummer Biel Basile, across five sessions between April 2024 and March 2025. He builds on his earlier palette of acoustic guitar, percussion, and female vocals with piano, synthesizer, wah-wah guitar, a primitive drum machine, and more pronounced rhythmic grooves and tempos.
Pequena Vertigem De Amor is an elegant, seductive and joyful recording. Sessa cites soul-rooted influences from North and South America, including Shuggie Otis, Roy Ayers, Sly Stone, Erasmo Carlos, Tim Maia, and Hyldon. He connects that pull to his time working at New York record shop Tropicália in Furs, where constant exposure to soul 45s helped him embrace what he calls a “crooked funky” feel rooted in exquisite Brazilian swing. His guitar style shifts here from traditional Brazilian fingerpicking toward fuller, more percussive strumming.
Pianist Marcelo Maita, younger brother of São Paulo samba jazz figure Amado Maita, adds a key new element. On “Nome De Deus,” Maita’s urgent piano lines drive the arrangement in the absence of Sessa’s guitar, locking with Basile’s aggressive percussion while Sessa delivers vocals that confront faith, desire, and agency.
“Dodói” presents the album’s rhythmic focus, built on an acoustic guitar riff reinforced by Marcelo Cabral’s bubbling bass, Basile’s tom-heavy drums, and a looped intro that foregrounds the groove; Simon Hanes’s string arrangement and Maita’s piano circle that core rhythm.
Mid-album tracks “Bicho Lento” and “Vale A Pena” highlight the project’s more pastoral and celebratory side. “Bicho Lento” features a laid-back flute arrangement from frequent collaborator Alex Chumak, while “Vale A Pena” places Sessa at a Suette electric piano with relaxed, direct vocals about the joys and difficulties of a new life phase.
All songs on Pequena Vertigem De Amor are written by Sessa and produced by Sessa and Biel Basile. Recording took place at Estúdio Cosmo (São Paulo, SP), with strings captured by Al Carlson at Gary’s Electric Studio (Brooklyn, NY). Seth Manchester mixed the album at Machines With Magnets (Pawtucket, RI) in April 2025, and Dave Cooley mastered it at Elysian Masters (Los Angeles, CA). Simon Hanes handled string arrangements and conducting; Alex Chumak arranged flutes on “Roupa Dos Mortos” and “Bicho Lento,” and Filipe Nader arranged flutes on “Planta Santa.”
The record follows Grandeza (2019) and Estrela Acesa (2022), completing a loose trilogy that traces his writing from intimate desire to relationships and now family life.
Musicians: Sessa on vocals, nylon acoustic guitar, wah wah guitar, bass on “Bicho Lento,” electric piano on “Vale a Pena”; Biel Basile on drums and percussion; Marcelo Cabral on bass; Cecília Góes on vocals; Lau Ra on vocals; Ina on vocals; Paloma Mecozzi on vocals; Alex Chumak on electric piano and synthesizer; Marcelo Maita on piano; Gabriel Milliet on flutes; Filipe Nader on alto saxophone; Kate Goddard on violin; Ludovica Burtone on violin; Laura Sacks on viola; and Daniel Parker on cello.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.