Mundo Solo is the third album in 2023 from ex-pat Brazilian guitarist and composer
Fabiano do Nascimento. The acclaimed
Lendas was released in January by his longtime label,
Now-Again. Produced by
Vittor Santos, it also included legendary composer and arranger
Arthur Verocai leading his string quartet. In July,
Leaving Records released
Das Nuvens, a duo recording between
Nascimento and guitarist/producer
Daniel Santiago.
Mundo Solo was recorded alone at his home studio in Los Angeles in 2020, while he was quarantined due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nascimento adopted
Hermeto Pascoal's concept of "universal music" for this record. It rejects nationalistic tendencies placed on musical traditions in favor of expressing the totality of one's musical influences all at once.
Mundo Solo doesn't depart aesthetically from the guitarist's recent work -- it's warm, mysterious, sometimes ambient, and always gentle -- but its atmosphere offers something different.
Nascimento plays six-, seven-, and ten-string guitars, Oktav guitar, E. baritone guitar, bass, percussion, E. percussion, synthesizers, and pedals.
Opener "Abertura" wanders in with strummed chords, economical nylon single-string runs, and electric counterpoint just above ambient synthesizers. The guitar interplay is dreamy and languid. "Curumin 2," with guest
Gabe Noel on bass, walks a gauzy, humid line between lithe funk and contemporary jazz. "Paperstrings" is a showcase for
Nascimento's compositional and improvisational styles as various guitars (including one played deliberately buzzing on the fretboard) engage in counterpoint and pulsing rhythm framed by effects pedals. His musical m.o. involves seducing and coaxing listeners, not overpowering them. The playing technique on "Agua de Estrellas" recalls
Ralph Towner's and
Baden Powell's later nylon-string signatures, while his production style sounds akin to
Carlos Nino's. "Etude 1" features
Julien Cantelm on drums framing
Nascimento's nylon-string instrument, and is buoyed by his bass playing. A progressive samba, it crosses into choro then post-bop. "Meianoite" is a gorgeous multi-tracked guitar read of
Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight." He goes straight for emotion, and seductively pries it from the noirish mood. In the final third, his electric guitar underscores the lyric with elegant harmonic fills and vamps. The album's hinge includes "Coisa," a keyboard and synth interlude, and "Coisa 2," a minor-key circular guitar study colored by a coaxing synth.
Ajurina Zwarg (son of legendary
Itibere Zwarg) adds percussion on "CPVM," a shimmering meld of jazz, forro, and choro. "Txaii" finds the guitarist playing drums and deeply atmospheric synths circling a constant minor-key vamp that grounds the improvising of layered guitars.
Mundo Solo,
Nascimento's first for
Far Out, is the record of his internal esthetic process. The music feels instinctual, evoking various moods, perceptions, and even emotions. His music transcends labels -- folk, new age, jazz, samba, avant-garde, etc. It's so seamless and inviting that it is, unfortunately, easy to gloss over the details of his virtuoso playing technique and canny production chops. A careful session with this or his earlier recordings opens a universe of sounds and textures. ~ Thom Jurek
