Seu Jorge

This is the man who seduced us with the beautiful covers of David Bowie songs in Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic -- think "Rebel Rebel" in Portuguese, with acoustic guitar. This solo release fulfills the promise of those covers, with moments of almost unbearably great, Leonard Cohen-esque intimacy ("Bola De Meia") as well as streetwise party music ("Tive Rezao").

Seu Jorge is known to U.S. audiences for performing bossa-flecked Portuguese renditions
of David Bowie songs in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. But the Brazilian singer,
guitarist and actor breaks free of such gimmickry for his North American debut disc. Cru's
originals are steadfastly traditional (relying on acoustic guitars and sparse percussion, as on
the typically hypermelodic "Tive Razao") and boldly forward-looking (employing... More >

There's a reason rhythm--and not the subtle stuff: beats stated and elaborated, on percussion instruments per se or string and electronic instruments deployed percussively--looms so large for us in the music of darker-skinned foreigners who don't sing in English. Romance of the primitive not required--rhythm is where the music is, and the meaning. For non-Lusophones, this brave Brazilian favelado--who has a record out here because he's a beguiling musical presence in the minor The Life Aquatic, not because he's a commanding dramatic presence in the major City of God--is selling timbre even when he sings an Elvis trifle in the original Leiber, and timbre isn't enough. The one keeper is a Serge Gainsbourg trifle consisting of proper names and the word "suicide." And it too needs its rhythm track. (Grade - B-)