Hi everyone, Ohthony Wowtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this self-titled album from Curió Curió.

Yes, this is the debut full-length record from this Brazilian-German music duo, whose name is derived from that of a Brazilian songbird, which is kind of fitting.

The duo is fronted by singer and actress Luiza Monteiro, who moved from her hometown of Rio de Janeiro over nine years ago at this point. But despite Luiza being based in Germany for a while now, I guess she has never felt fully at home in her new surroundings, where she met producer Dustin Braun. And, through the act of longing for where she grew up, started to make music with Dustin, with a focus on their favorite Brazilian sounds and artists as a means of fighting off this homesickness.

This record took about two years to complete as well, from what I understand, and seamlessly blends numerous genres and eras of Brazilian popular music. Everything from '60s samba to disco to MPB classics, many of which have seen kind of a resurgence as of late, with your Jorge Bens, your Gal Costas. But the most modern analog I could think of when listening to this record is, of course, the great Ana Frango Elétrico, a favorite among my audience in recent years. And lo and behold, Curió Curió is actually on the same label, Mr. Bongo. Damn!

So, a lot of crossover there, and also crossover between these acts in terms of influence. But I will say, by contrast, the music Ana Frango typically releases has a lot more kind of campy and quirky and tongue-in-cheek characteristics about it, whereas I think Curió Curió has a much cleaner presentation. It's really more about the groovy production, the virtuous performances with little muss or fuss, which maybe you could say might lead to an album that is a little average or predictable.

But what ends up making this album anyway is not only how great and tasteful and well put together the mixing and production and engineering is on this thing, but also Luiza, who is a great – and I have to emphasize great – vocalist, with an incredible range, great vibrato, just stellar pitch control, and pulls off some really impressive feats and octave jumps on many of these tracks.

She clearly prides herself on her versatility and some of the experiments that she embarks on with a few of these tracks, too. There are some clear jazz influences coming through on a lot of her note choices as well. Meanwhile, Dustin has clearly had his ears locked into all of these classic Brazilian albums, really nailing the grooves, the instrumental palettes, the hand drums, the brass tones, the group vocal layers, and even throwing in some great analog synth passages as well.

One thing I will say from the outset that really would have taken this album over the edge for me is to have song lengths and structures that were a little bit more multifaceted, and packed with instrumentation that was maybe slightly jammier or some super strong solo work. But still, even without a great deal of that going on, Luiza's vocals and the sharp songwriting throughout this project are enough to make it engaging and entertaining throughout.

The opening track's loose, spacious grooves and group vocal passages are enough to kind of create this kind of mysterious vibe. Those synth layers are a nice touch too. It really shows the full sonic range of the album out of the gate before you kind of hear it all kick into high gear. Plus that high note Luiza hits toward the back end of the track is just a great peak. Then with "Bem Querer," the pace of the record really picks up and I don't know if you could ask for more out of a track too. The groove, the bass line, the call and response drums, and those group chorus vocals, too. The whole thing sounds like a celebratory tropical roller disco.

Then "Menina Passarinho" leans more into the synth layers with talk-sung verses that actually have a great flow. And you'll notice that with any song like this one that sort of like turns maybe the tempo and the layers down a little bit, while it may not be as groovy or as high energy as other tracks in the track list, taking things in this direction really gives Luiza the opportunity to go absolutely crazy on the vocal front. And I love, love, love her performance here. I'm actually taken aback by the insane scatting she does in the last leg of this song, hitting those wild falsetto bits that are so fun and so unhinged. Then "Vem pra Casa" somehow has this sort of fun, jubilant group chorus section that actually leapfrogs "Bem Querer."

"Rise," of course, is a more jammy and open piece in the middle of the track list, really like a moment that leads very well into this acoustic interlude that is so earned. Love to see a beautiful, chill, acoustic oasis moment in the middle of a record, that honestly could have even gone a little bit longer, that actually feels like it's meant to be there. Because every track up until this point has just taken so much energy out of you, you need a cool down moment.

Then "Amor Doente," I want to stress, goes into a pure disco and funk direction. And while the performance and the sound of this track, the production is so clean and technically sound and impressive, it's not soulless. Once again, not only is Luiza putting on just a great performance here, but the descending synth lines and the way the bass and the kick drums on this track lock in on those ones, it's just such killer engineering.

Now, I will say my one major issue with this record is that as we go toward the end, the energy, I think, starts to dip a little bit too low. And the most spacey and explorative moments on the album, like "Amizade," for example, there's just not enough meat on the bone for me to want to kind of hang there in these ill-defined, boundary-less, jammy passages for too long.

Still, there is a really cool sax odyssey in the second half of this record that's a highlight. And the closing track ["A Cor do Meu Sonho"], which is handily a favorite here, has some aggressive guitar and rock passages that honestly, knowing that Curió Curió can pull this kind of thing off, I would love to hear that leaned a little bit more into as well.

I love this album, make no mistake, don't get me wrong. It's just that for the various Brazilian music scenes and eras that it is pulling from, I think it could have really dug at least a little bit deeper and pulled together a recording that comes across with maybe just a little bit more band chemistry. A wider variety of clear and more distinct directions and influences would be great. And again, some more fiery and explosive solos too. But as it stands, again, you have one great vocal performance after another on this thing. Consistently impressive, clean, well-balanced and assembled instrumentation and production. And the songs, the songs, the songs, the songs.

Like, it's not the greatest thing I've ever heard in this lane for sure, but as far as the modern iteration of it goes, it's really impressive, and I think a fantastic starting point for a new music project with a great Brazilian twist. Which is why I'm feeling a light to decent 8 on this one.

Anthony Fantano. Curió Curió. Forever.