Fabiano Do Nascimento & Vittor Santos Orquestra: Vila review | Ammar Kalia's global album of the month

"Over the past decade, Brazilian guitarist Fabiano do Nascimento has honed a sound so muscular and expansive it may make you think the prolific soloist and collaborator had four hands playing his instrument's six strings. His 14 records since 2015's debut Danca do Tempo include everything from a tender duets album with saxophonist Sam Gendel, The Room, to the electronic-influenced Aquaticos with producer E Ruscha V, and the percussive tabla textures of Cavejaz."

"Employing his signature combination of finger-picked melodics with percussive strumming, Nascimento's performance across Vila's 11 tracks showcases his ability to weave seamlessly through the orchestra's dynamic range rather than playing a single role. On Spring Theme, he establishes a simple lead melody that guides the ensemble and is anchored through swells of strings and soft shaker rhythm, while on Tema em Harmonicos his fingerpicking mirrors thrumming hand percussion as a muted trumpet takes the lead instead;"

"Conductor Vittor Santos's arrangements reference the luscious, bossa-influenced orchestrations of fellow countryman Arthur Verocai, producing enveloping, overlaid harmonies on Valsa and Floresta Dos Sonhos. It's imaginative mood music that never quite reaches its full dramatic and explosive potential. Instead, the album luxuriates in gentle, sweeping viola and violin lines, and alternates between metallic picking and warm strumming on the guitar."

Brazilian guitarist Fabiano do Nascimento blends finger-picked melodics and percussive strumming with a 16-piece Vittor Santos Orquestra across Vila's 11 tracks. The album balances lead melodies, swells of strings, muted trumpet, and brass interplay while shifting rhythmic feels from double-time swing to half-time sway. Vittor Santos's arrangements evoke bossa-influenced orchestrations, creating enveloping harmonies on tracks like Valsa and Floresta Dos Sonhos. The record favors gentle, sweeping viola and violin lines and alternates metallic picking with warm strumming, showcasing Nascimento's dexterity and compositional leanings toward imaginative, mood-driven orchestral textures. The result is lush, percussive instrumental music that luxuriates in subtlety rather than dramatic explosion.

Read at www.theguardian.com