Critic's evaluation
Entering the last moments of 2022, the Porto Alegre band Dingo, formerly called Dingo Bells, announces a new chapter in its discography. Entitled A Vida É Uma Granada, the material is the quartet's third studio album and marks the group's split between the city of São Paulo as well.
A sharp and tuned voice, in a way reminiscent of Chaps Melo's timbre, enters the scene timidly next to the subtle and punctual riff guitar designed by Diogo Brochmann. Curious to note that, from the softened movement of Rodrigo Fischmann's singing, a comforting scent of lavender hangs in the air perfuming the environment that soon becomes a bluesy waltz of jazz flirtations that builds slightly melancholic contours. Growing in harmony from the synchrony between Fabrício Gambogi's rhythmic piano and Felipe Kautz's bass, the title track gains a contagious swing while talking about life as a metaphor to the denotative concept of the word unpredictable. Full of rhymes and with choruses that recall the melodic harmony of We All Fall Down, Aerosmith's single, the title track still deals with the emotional intensity of the human being, something that exploded like a pressure cooker when the measures of distancing and isolation were loosened to contain the Covid-19 contagion. A toast to feeling.
The gentle sweetness of the guitar is like the tide at dawn. Soft, tranquil, and sounding with its nascent waltz the day that is awakening. Voices in the background give the notion of cross-talk, but not a crowd consensus. Just a cluster of people with their private conversations creating a dissonant melody. It is at this point that, governed by the linear, frequent, high-pitched sequentiality of the wurlitzer, a mixture of soft rock and reggae blossoms into the melody. With a softened guitar, the sound of the song assumes, with the help of the drums' groove, a simple similarity to the rhythmic base of Locked Out Of Heaven, Bruno Mars' single, giving it alternative and indie traits. At the same time, this same aesthetic also brings a stylistic kinship with the foundation of Além do Horizonte in Jota Quest's version. And so, Parabólica shows itself to be a song with multiple melodies that dialogues about urban nature and its weight in overshadowing the natural beauty of the environment. Excessive skyscrapers, artificial lights everywhere. Smoke, noise. The desire for purity in the face of unbridled industrial development. In a way, Parabólica shares the same criticism approached in the WALL-E animation: the artificial growing in the social routine while nature and its precept of natural life are being overshadowed. In what concerns the sonority, still, the participation of the synth and the sampler of Gilberto Ribeiro Jr.. the song assumes, still, an ambience that exhales influences of a Lulu Santos in his most pop phase.
The movement of the guitar already offers a different energy and harmony. A positive, hopeful, and re-energizing contagion exudes from each note uttered during the solo introduction. Next, a violin duet formed by Aramis Rocha and Robson Rocha lays down a floral aroma that flirts with Coldplay's avant-garde britpop that harks back to the sound of their single Viva La Vida while colorful Latin touches are brushed from the low, full-bodied blowing of Douglas Antunes' trombone. Lindo Não is a beautiful description of the lyricist's self-knowledge process. An illustration of enough of the falsely comforting doldrums of melancholy and negativity. The new beginning with representations of its emotional weight from the drama of Deni Feijó's cello and the weeping sweetness of Daniel Pires' viola lead Lindo Não to a closing that, from the high-pitched and swinging sax of Bira Junior, is golden and alive.
With great similarity to the dawn of Somos Quem Podemos Ser, single by Engenheiros do Hawaii, the soft guitar in its linearity moves and invites the listener to get lost in a melodic and sensitive environment from the union between the acoustic percussion and the soft sharpness of Helio Flanders' second guitar that flies over the rhythmic ambience. Um Raio No Céu is a poetic and original plot about conflict in relationships simply because of its reflective, sweet, and sensitive bias. Without lamentation, the lyrical scope demonstrates the thinking about insecurity and differences in behavior at the same time that it reveals, in longing, the desire for love to be rekindled.
A soft and cozy MPB is built from the softened rhythm of the guitar. Growing gradually in harmony with the timid insertion of occasional notes subtly distorted from the guitar, the song is like the sunlight coming in through the window gaps and warming the bare feet on the bed. Its illumination guarantees a new beginning, new opportunities, and energy to do what was missing yesterday. In this context, Eu Em Busca De Mim brings a contagion through aesthetic simplicity while talking about intensity and an unbridled sense of freedom associated with belonging. Eu Em Busca De Mim is the discovery of human emotional irregularity and the realization that every day is one way - and that this is normal.
The wurlitzer brings an industrial yet synth-pop ambience to the new context. Providing the design of well-marked and swinging silhouettes, the instrument follows as the aesthetic protagonist in the song while a glowing joy takes over the atmosphere. Contagious, Doce Delírio manages to recreate the aesthetics of eighties national rock while talking about hope and, subliminally, the tasty and addictive taste of life and interactions.
With R&B notes through a harmonious chorus as melodic base, the new song dawns in a way to give freedom to an omnipresent character who, as the voice of the conscience, or rather the unconscious, communicates with his master with motivational words in English. Keeping the aesthetic simplicity, the song matures from the beat executed only by the snap of fingers while the guitar begins to deliver a more melancholy body to A Descoberta Do Ser. With a subtle sway established by the groove of the drums, the song accompanies Fischmann in a plot that flirts a lot with that of Eu Em Busca De Mim, as it brings a character who gets lost between the intensity and the fear of discovering the origins of these explosive impulses. Behold, both songs tangent on the theme of self-knowledge. The powerful metaphorical message left in A Descoberta Do Ser is in the verse "a desconstrução do ser é a condição para ser feliz" a desconstrução do ser é a condição para ser feliz". After all, when a being reaches purity, he is not bound by social and moralistic precepts and acts only by following what suits him.
The floral and soft purity of MPB meets the lightly swinging beat inspired by jazz. With such freshness, Eu Cheguei De Longe comes without delay with another sensitive plot that flirts with the theme of self-knowledge. Bringing a cut of the modern rural exodus, the song follows a character dueling with his fears and insecurities when arriving in a big and unknown city, but always with his chest up and his eyes shining reflecting the vision of hope. Eu Cheguei De Longe is a description of how the environment can transform the essence of being.
Bringing density and melancholy in equal measure, the guitar emerges bringing reflective yet enigmatic airs. Bringing the same theme as Um Raio No Céu, but with a profoundly different approach, Tropeço is drenched in laments about relationship fragility and failure. Daring in structure, the track comes with the other side, the counterpoint. Her vision in comparison to his. And in this sense, who gives voice to the equally fragile female character is Paola Kirst who, with her strong tone of voice, but with a contained interpretation, brings a sharpness synchronically mournful for the end of something that seemed fruitful and coming. However, as Fischmann had already said, "todo o fim também é um recomeço", that is, another type of even stronger relationship can be built from something that, before, was tragic and painful.
A cool waltz with slightly icy tones drifts through the atmosphere like an evening breeze bringing the humidity of the sea into the city. Soft and with a strong folk aroma that settles into the melody, Vamos Rir De Nós joins the likes of Um Raio No Céu and Tropeço in its reflection on the end of the relationship. Here, however, it is clear that the reason for the breakup is the difference between the longings and the way to reach them.
It is like receiving a warm, motherly, comforting hug. While the rain falls and, inside, the mild heat fogs up the windowpane, the tears run uncontrollably down the frowning face pressed against the chest of the one who offered the act of compassion. With stiffened hands, the character lets all the sentimental impurity drain away. Fear, insecurity, regrets. All told through a silent cry. With simple flirtations with the melodic aesthetics of Tiago Iorc, Pra Aliviar O Peito is the most touching and sensitive song on the entire album. An MPB product that, within Wagner Lageman’s acoustic bass, speaks with the heart to another heart. That understands the anguish and has the strength to offer the incentive to overcome it. Pra Aliviar O Peito is the song of a new beginning and the representation of a state of peace with oneself.
Melodic, sensitive, and moving. A Vida É Uma Granada shows how synergetic and emotional can be the analyses about oneself, about life, and, mainly, about the other. With delicacy, lucidity, and maturity, the album is a material that thinks about reality, interpersonal relationships, and internal conflicts that are not always shouted out.
Dingo showed, with the album, how the processes of self-knowledge are painful and not always quick. He showed how the environment can transform man. It illustrated how a relationship breakup can have several truths. And it showed, mainly, that everyone, without exception, needs a hug to help expel all that is trapped in the chest, be it sadness, anguish, or fear.
And on this path, Dingo fused jazz, samba, MPB, reggae, soft rock, folk, R&B and many influences that, with the help of Ribeiro Jr.'s mixing, resulted in the creation of an original sound that is characterized as an avant-garde MPB. A characterization matured thanks to the conscious and synchronous production of Flanders and Ribeiro Jr.
With modernist traits, but not as latent as the work by Bernardo Rezende used to illustrate the cover of Ensaios Férteis, Cajupitanga's EP, the artwork by Gabriel Hand brings the fluidity of life represented by the stream that cuts the arid landscape in half. Representing pain and suffering, but also hope, it is embraced by a sky that transmits the freshness of the breeze laden with change.
Released on 11/08/2022 via Rockambole, A Vida É Uma Granada is a beautiful, sensitive, and comforting breath for a tense year that closes with the promise of change. It is sensitivity placed over reflection on life, on relationships, and on each other.
