Music Review: Melbreeze – ‘Animazonia’

Blue Canoe Records has released Turkish-born and world-known vocalist Melbreeze‘s solo CD entitled Animazonia. Flavors of Brazilian jazz, lounge music, and electro pop accent each track. The tracks are a creative fusion that interlocks facets of ’70s lounge music with disco-era synths, jazz bop-inspired grooves, and hypnotic, Brazilian-style beats, layered in wavy, psychedelic ribbing. Overall, the music integrates jazz idioms with South American dance and psychedelic synth-pop, forming a mixture that is both traditional and unique-sounding.

The tangy Asian textures opening “How Insensitive” (an Antonio Carlos Jobim cover) complement the bossa nova arcs in the instrumentation. Melbreeze’s vocals invoke emotion into the track as she reflects, “How insensitive / I must have seemed / When he told me that he loved me / … / What can you say / When a love affair is over / Now he’s gone away / And I’m alone / With a memory of his last look.” The easy listening tremors in her vocals give the cool nonchalant facade that she projects a hint of sadness.

“Anima” applies a fusion of electro pop and lounge music both harnessed in a Brazilian rhythm. The two elements form an exotic atmosphere that incites listeners to both dance and listen to the music. Sung in Spanish, “Mas Que Nada” is equally enjoyable. The electro pop flecks incite the listener to both dance and listen while engulfed in the wavy swells of the instrumentation.

The mesmerizing tone of Larry Koonse’s guitar strings flickering gently along “Quiet Nights” are pebbled by the sprightly movements of Scott Kinsey’s keys. The energy level of the music maintains a cool and perky consistency. Intermittently, the recording fluctuates between the suave motifs of “Wave” and the dance pulse of “So Nice.” The pulsating beats in the tracks range from Brazilian-influenced to world music fare, evidenced by Knand Kumar’s sitar in “Desafinado” and the orchestral rings of Artyon Manukyan’s cello in “The Island.”

Produced by Scott Kinsey and Jimmy Haslip, Animazonia has music that is both new and old, intertwining elements that are contemporary and traditional. Sketch-wise, the music is designed for world music audiences.