Brazilian chanteuse Céu jumped to notoriety about five years ago thanks to her self-titled debut album breaking new grounds, literally, not so much musically but marketing-wise; she was the first artist signed by the coffee-shop chain Starbucks for an unprecedented international distribution deal. But long gone are the coffee-shop background laungy bossa nova days of the Paulista. For her new album, she decided to leave behind the comfort of her cosmopolitan hometown, São Paulo, and embark on a road trip, not only through her immense country, but also South America, incorporating other rhythms and sounds to her palette. Caravana Sereia Bloom (to be released in the US by Six Degrees Records) is the resulting collection of sonic mementos from that bohemian trip, that includes (yes!) a cumbia, among other traditional Latin American rhythms. But not so fast, we haven’t gotten that far yet, this is her first stop on that 35 minute trip, “Retrovisor,” the first single out of her new album, where she hitch-hicked her way to Pernambuco in the beautiful Brazilian north-east coast. With its fuzzy guitar it references the early tropicalia days of cult bands like Os Mutantes, rather than the Tom Jobin-inspired bossa nova of her beginnings.
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