Arthur Melo - Mirantes Emocionais (2024)

Brazilian singer and composer Arthur Melo turns to the ‘70s & ‘80s, to the musical greats like Caetano Veloso and Milton Nascimento, channelling his love of director Brian de Palma and old detective films, and positioning himself amongst a new generation of contemporary musicians.

Arthur Melo, a young Brazilian composer, guitarist and singer returns to releasing music, with his second single after a 3 year break, with a new album Mirantes Emocionais, set for release on British label Wonderfulsound. Backed by his band O Ministério da Consciência it’s a work that pays homage to Arthur’s heroes of Brazilian music from the ‘70s and ‘80s yet goes much beyond throwback. Like his previous post-tropicalia, psychedelic and percussive material, it honours Brazil’s divergent musical history but always looking forward, treading new paths and placing Arthur in a venerable category of explorative, young Brazilian artists alongside the likes of Sessa & Ana Frango Elétrico.

Produced by Kassim (Erasmu Carlos, Caetano Veloso), the album whose title translates from Portuguese to ‘emotional viewpoints’ has plentiful film references (Arthur studied film at University) and visually it alludes to those vintage detective and mafia film favourites of Arthur, like Scarface. The album artwork is by street artist DMS.

“The cover and multiple faces represent all the emotions in the eleven tracks: sadness, love, happiness, anger, vengeance, indifference and others. Yet the idea is to observe these emotions that run through us. It’s like when you go to a high point in the city to see all the neighbourhoods from afar. It’s the same principle with the album, you look in to the soul and observe your emotions yet not being affected by them and letting them dominate how you feel”.

In recent times there has been a wealth of young and contemporary artists channelling and reconfiguring the sound and flow of the original maestros of bossa nova and its younger rebelding brother tropicalia. The scene for such projects has blossomed in recent years dominated by protagonists like Sessa, Ana Frango Elétrico and Bala Desejo who have all found a global fanbase. Arthur Melo, is another breakthrough act making waves.

The 25 year old singer and guitarist from Belo Horizonte, the capital city and cultural centre of the sprawling state of Minas Gerais, released 3 albums between 2018 & 2020. All were dipped in the same borderless MPB dust that his heroes like Milton Nascimento were touched by, with tropicalia stamped fuzz guitar, three-string bossa chord slides and 70’s psychedelic microphone effects all signature sounds of his.

There is a sense of introspection within the record. of solitude, perhaps a product of forced solitude - covid hit Brazil hard. But this is in stark contrast to Arthur’s formative years, growing up ‘in the dance’ so to speak. His family are sambistas and to this day, performance and live samba circles are a regular theme in his family life. For two decades his father and uncle organised a bloco (sound system) each year at carnival in a northern town of Minas Gerais so whilst he was too young to be directly involved, he was immersed in the percussive music of forro and carimbo and used to spending a week on the streets celebrating each year.

Álvaro Almeida is a new-wave and synth-pop tune with a 1980’s Brazilian boogie flavour, perhaps reminiscent of Marcos Valle or Djavan. Na Avenida com Benito is a sloping number and ode to the classic Brazilian samba Retalhos de Cetim by the legend Benito di Paula. It talks about a broken hearted guy whose girl left him during carnaval yet this time with Arthur as Di Paula’s character, who instead drinks cachaças at the bar instead of suffering. Do Colostro ao Osso takes a more contemporary indie-pop approach, guitars jangling where Saidas is early Caetano Veloso, vocally reminiscent of his 1972 Transa album recorded in London.

Tracklist
01 - Me Lastimaste
02 - Na Avenida com Benito
03 - Dama da Noite
04 - Zói Fundo
05 - De Toda Sorte
06 - Maré
07 - Álvaro Almeida
08 - Princípios Organizadores
09 - Do Colostro ao Osso
10 - Saídas
11 - Aprendendo a Mentir