Brazilian Girls- Let’s Make Love Album Review
New-wave and electronic band Brazilian Girls are back with their fourth studio album, Let’s Make Love, their first in ten years. The album promotes exactly what it is advertising in its simplistic title: “make love.” Sabina Sciubba, the lead singer of Brazilian Girls, commented, “Right now, 'Let's Make Love’ seems like a very good message to put into the world… It's not even 'Make love, not war' – it's just 'Make love,' and nothing else." Being that Sciubba is fluent in six languages, she utilizes her diversity of language to communicate her message of love across cultural barriers through an album that bounces between several languages.
Brazilian Girls are arguably most recognizable for their diverse cultural style, major appearances in the New York stage scene, and their hits, “Lazy Lover” and “Don’t Stop.” Brazilian Girls have collaborated in the past with Talking Heads lead singer, David Byrne, on their single, “I’m Losing Myself” and had covered the Talking Heads song, “Cross-Eyed and Painless” for an AIDS charity concert back in 2007. Brazilian Girls have constantly promoted their message of love throughout each of their albums, with Let’s Make Love being one of their strongest yet.
Let's Make Love is an electric joyride with an ever-shifting utilization of a variety of language and styles, that promotes the message that love is all the world needs. All the songs on the album are very cohesive and are able to move seamlessly from mosh pit inspired rock to relaxed and enchanting grooves. With a huge amount of inspiration stemming from the 1980’s, a lot of the synth work featured on the album, while utilized before, takes on an innovative quality through the band’s harmonious use of modern electrical techniques and synth. All of the tracks on the album have their own spark of relevance and there isn’t exactly a low point on the album.
The song, “Wild Wild Web” takes on a lot of influence from the Talking Head’s hit, “Once in a Lifetime” incorporating Byrne-esque lyrics and shouted spoken word. All the tracks on the album are effectively able to transition between different styles and cultural influences without any kind of disruption in the listener’s experience. Sciubba’s sultry soft voice is very effective in guiding the listener through the album’s shifting soundscapes even as it moves, sometimes instantaneously, into another language.
With a lot of influences from prior decades and a variety of cultures, Brazilian Girls are able to successfully create a message of love that transcends multiple languages and musical boundaries. Let’s Make Love is very effective at moving through its combination of influences without too much of an interruption for the listener, which is a technique that is rarely incorporated on an album due to its tendency to not transition seamlessly. An enjoyable and impressive album, Let’s Make Love is an exciting entry into the Brazilian Girls discography. It effectively blends all of the band’s influences and styles cohesively, the closest they’ve gotten to perfecting it throughout their career.
Rating: 8/10
Scott Perdue is a freshman majoring in film/video. To contact him, email rsp5246@psu.edu.
