Sol [Vinyl]

Ezechiel Pailhes – Sol [Vinyl]

LP version. For his sixth solo album, Ezchiel Pailhs returns with a new collection of songs infused by a sunny wandering spirit. Within each of the twelve songs on SOL is a thread of melancholic happiness that has permeated much of Pailhs’ music and songwriting. He addresses love, the passing of time, hope, lost illusions, fleeting moments of grace, the temptation of forgetting, a need to escape, and desire. All this is insulated by understated orchestrations that blend acoustic and electronic instrumentation with deft confidence. The Portuguese and Brazilian concept of saudade — a form of melancholic longing and nostalgia — pervades, thanks in part to Pailhs decision to record the album in Rio de Janiero and to reinterpret some of the finest works of Msica Popular Brasileira (MPB). In particular, he revisits a handful of lesser-known classics from the mid-century samba and bossa nova era — originally written or performed by talents including Vincius de Moraes, Joo Gilberto, Tom Z, Dorival Caymmi, Joo Donato, Os Tincos, and Ataulfo Alves. The shift from Brazilian Portuguese to French and the decision to adapt rather than perform a straight-forward cover versions, allows Pailhs to invent a form of prosody and euphony that feels vibrant and unlike anything else in today’s French chanson landscape. The French artist was keen to avoid clich. Each song is therefore built around a carefully balanced interplay between Pailhs’ piano and synthesizers, alongside restrained arrangements of percussion, brass, bass, and cavaquinho (a small four-string plucked guitar). These parts were recorded in Rio de Janeiro with two musicians who regularly perform alongside the legendary Caetano Veloso — Kain Do Jje and Alberto Continentino — joined by Thomas Harres, Antnio Neves, Eduardo Neves, and Gabriel Loddo. With SOL, Ezchiel Pailhs reinvents this rich Franco-Brazilian musical legacy, bringing to it a personality and modernity that stand confidently alongside those of his forbears.