Kassin Sonhando Devagar

Vinyl LP pressing. in his native Brazil, Kassin is a sought-after producer (Bebel Gilberto), bass player (Caetano Veloso) and musical director (Orchestra Imperial, a new-twist samba band that regularly plays for audiences of 40,000). Kassin's first songwriting project since the +2s, and his first proper solo release, is likewise conceptual: A set of songs about dreams. Sonhando Devagar ('Slowly Dreaming') is no routine mishmash of oneiric whimsy, however; Kassin's unconscious turns out to be both lucid and precise. He dreams / sings about eating zebra ('Natural World') and bananas ('P'otassium'), about losing cell phone signal ('Out of Service') and his heart ('When You Are Dancing Samba'), about sex in a handicapped bathroom ('Gym Pants'), and about the similarities between ice cream and bodily fluids ('Absorb You'). The journey is as deadpan as it is surprising - plus, you can dance to it.