Negro Leo: “Rela” [ft. May Tuti] Track Review

Over the past decade, Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Negro Leo has united a clear commitment to working class politics with surrealist soundscapes and storytelling, following in the footsteps of the Tropicalists and Vanguarda Paulista and carving out an important niche within the country’s experimental music scene. Much of his work—like a biting noise rock collaboration that inaugurated the independent label QTV—has been engaged with escalating political struggle extending from the 2014 economic recession to the rise of far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro. But at the end of 2022, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva regained the presidency in a massive electoral win for Brazil’s Worker’s Party—and perhaps correspondingly, the beatific psychedelia of Leo’s latest single, “Rela,” seems to reflect a more optimistic future. Over a pulsating two-chord progression, Leo and singer May Tuti repeat phrases in falsetto, their voices drifting in and out like apparitions. The percussion begins as a dash of shuffling ganzá, a smattering of kicks, and a clap doused in echo. But then arpeggiated synths, cowbells, and shakers accumulate into euphoric polyrhythms, ushering in what feels like a blissful new beginning.