For much of the English-speaking world, the genre we call “New Wave” can be pretty easily categorized. However it’s worth noting that this late ’70s/early ’80s post-punk pop movement wasn’t actually the original “new wave”. That title goes to the little ’60s Brazilian post-samba sensation known as “Bossa nova“.
Of course, the very best Bossa came out a half century back. But that hasn’t kept contemporary innovators out of Bossa nova’s seductive currents; take for example Brooklyn’s Erik Laroi, who uses the classic, sandy sound as a transcontinental bridge between modern indie and the golden age of baroque pop. Under the handle Lost Weekend, this David Gilmour-reminiscent singer-guitarist is soon set to share a dozen such indie-bossa-pop bops on his debut LP Memorias.
Like an audio-only lucid dream, Memorias transports you to different times and places throughout these incredibly-calculated arrangements, which were fastidiously pieced together over a two-year bicoastal recording period. And today Lost Weekend’s given us an early forecast for Memorias ahead of the record release next Friday, one that features Mascott frontwoman Kendall Jane Meade on vocal harmonies. In a four-and-a-half minute trickle of tranquility, “Soft, Summer Rain” swells with flailing flutes, lightning-tight trumpets, and elegiac electric piano, from which you won’t want to dry off.
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