Songs of the Day

Today, I'm running through tracks 11-15, the final 5 tracks of the album: "Valsa Pra Biu Roque," "Ave Cruz," "O Ronco Da Cuica,""Bobagem," and "Samba Na Sola."  I think "Valsa Pra Biu Roque" is probably my favorite song of the day.  It's a very sweet, slow (what I'm thinking is Tango/Argentian) song with just vocals and guitar.  It's obviously a love song, and you can hear that coming from Céu - she really shines on this one.  You can hear her longing, and it's very effective.  "Ave Cruz" is decent.  There's a cool 90s R&B thing going on that I dig, but it's all kind of generic.  I feel like I've heard it before, or that it could be easily replicated.  She sounds cool, it's just not my favorite.  I was really feeling like "O Ronco Da Cuica" was gonna turn around today's luck by the start of it.  The beginning has got a cool, more upbeat feel to it, and the doubled vocals have cool harmony that I like, but as the track continues, it starts to get a little out of its element.  It gets a little overly experimental.  Not that it's anything crazy by any means, just some distorted guitar, and some electronic elements, but they don't seem natural to the feel.  I just didn't think it needed all the extra - it was cool when it was straight ahead. "Bobagem" is very minimal - just vocals, percussion and bass for the most part, with guitar at the beginning and end.  It's alright, but I felt like the guitar should have returned a little sooner.  The feel of it kind of reminds me of what you hear in an upscale restaurant that's trying to be hip.  There is a saving grace in "Samba Na Sola" though, and I think that's mainly thanks to the fact that it keeps its feel the whole time.  Don't get me wrong, I was all about the mixed feels in the beginning of the album, but they felt more appropriate to the songs than they did in the second half of the album.  Always nice to have an upbeat song to end things out - makes me wanna dance.  The percussion is really great, and she sounds beautiful.  Just an okay day, but there are still some gems in here.