Brazilian musician and singer Lucas Santtana releases his seventh album, 'O céu é velho há muito tempo', on French label Nø Førmat!(also home to the likes of Oumou Sangaré & Mélissa Laveaux),. It is the follow up to 2017's 'Modo Avião', an album (whose title translates as 'airplane mode') which probed ideas about the human experience & identity in an age of capitalism, consumerism & 24-7 digital connectivity.
The world is living through dark times - the far right and its reactionary ideas are gaining ground every-where, and Brazil hasn't been spared either. A militia government has come to power in the country by dubious means, then proceeding to obstruct human rights by way of violence and censorship. And so, having made a name for himself with a string of richly inventive, polycultural albums suffusing nods to Brazilian cornerstones like Tropicalia & Bossa Nova with elements of everything from electronica to hip hop, for 'O Céu É Velho Há Muito Tempo', Santtana here pares back his palette to little more than the sound of his own voice and a guitar, for an album which unflinchingly zeroes in on this parlous machinery dictating the political, social & cultural balance of his own country. "We're living in a time in which everybody is talking loud' he observes; "I thought the time had come to whisper into people's ears".
Whilst 'O céu é velho há muito tempo' might operate with the gentlest of touches musically, the urgency of Santtana's cautionary counsel is unmistakeable throughout. It's hard not to come away from 'O Céu é velho há muito tempo' sharing in Santtana's belief that acts of resistance will ultimately win out, to hold this Brazilian sky in place.
