by Zak Mercado (@ciaoguaglione)
What Will You Grow Now? is six songs initiated as jams. They seamlessly grow organically in separate planes of existence, becoming somehow unified emotionally packed musical statements. The group, Modern Cosmology, the coming together of Recife, Brazil based Mombojó and totemic French Pop figure Laetitia Sadier, knows how to have a focused jam.
What Will You Grow Now? beautifully synthesizes the DNA of this collective of artists. On one side of the coin, Mombojó creates music in the tradition of Tropicália. On the flip side, Sadier brings her unique vocal stylings, patterns, rhythms, and French pop. When coupled, the familiar Portuguese tongue is stripped away from the mystifying and groovy Tropicália into a pleasurable blend of palatable, funky, and ethereal tunes.
Surely, Modern Cosmology’s lead single, “A Time to Blossom,” best encapsulates the synthesis the group creates. The light tension created in the first part of the tune gives way to a transpicuous catharsis. It’s meditative and breezy. The delicate guitar parts and steady drum groove lock into a complimentary jam with the bright sighing of the wordless vocals. It makes one want to sit in it and throw it on repeat, to get to that end point again and again.
However, these tracks allow space for new directions beyond expectations. The titular track does just that. “What Will You Grow Now?” features a type of hip-hop cadence to Sadier’s vocal patterns that alternatively gives way to powerful refrains. The classical guitar pattern pleasantly gives off late 90s R&B vibes. Sadier’s vocals are somewhat cryptic, yet somehow so familiar. The recurring image of a little worm in the dirt seems so tangible and tactile. At the same time, it is confounding and phantasmagorical.
On “Consent for Life,” one of the most sublime moments is Sadier’s vocals drifting into a meandering mixture of effects, powerfully incanting “I cried for trust.” Then the backing band heads into many different directions, flurries of electronic sounds, both visceral and ethereal, and then just disparate noises set to a steady beat—steadily striding into the emotions. In many ways this group of musicians is able to translate surrealism into real emotion. That is no easy task. In another direction, “Trauma Release Makes Free” sees Sadier polemically interpreting feminist theory with sonic elements that lend her the needed gravitas to convey righteous indignation. “What happened to being free/to being self-determining?” she queries.
Overall, this group gracefully performs their dreamlike alchemy with danceable grooves and pleasantly disembodied musical patterns. It would certainly be a pleasure to hear more from them in the future. As a final word, can there be any doubt in anyone’s mind that Laetitia Sadier is one of the preeminent songwriters and idiosyncratic vocal performers of the past thirty plus years? As time has passed, her influence has increased. This is evinced all around, not only “indie” acts, but also in contemporary music, in general. On this album, she proves once again what does not have to be proved. Her talents will (and ought to) be remembered for quite some time.