The Selva is one of the many projects of prolific, genre-bending Portuguese double bass player Gonçalo Almeida with fellow Portuguese cellist Ricardo Jacinto (both Almeida and Jacinto alternate with electronics) and drummer-percussionist Nuno Morão. This trio was formed in 2016 with a strong focus on the chamber, free jazz string and percussion music but over the years incorporated electronics and electro-acoustic devices that intensified the need to explore, experiment and expand The Selva’s musical discourse.
Camarão-Girafa is the fourth album of this trio and was recorded at Namouche Studios in Lisbon in December 2021 and mixed by musician-producer-sound designer Manuel Pinheiro. The enigmatic title – Giraffe Shrimp in Portuguese (there is even a kōan about this title in the sleeve: «30 giraffes are shrimps and 37 shrimps are green. Considering that the 82 giraffes in total, 50 are green and 15 of the non-green giraffes are not shrimps, how many green shrimps that are not giraffes exist?») – tells about the elusive and highly suggestive spirit of the music, as well as the new evolutionary phase of The Selva. You can still sense the reserved, patient and introspective, minimal and repetitive sense of the chamber string music, but there is much more now in the music of The Selva.
The slow textural transformations morph their contours patiently and sketch dark, cinematic visions. The subtle usage of electronics and amplification with the post-production editing introduces unpredictable elements of ambient, post-rock and funk to the nuanced and precise chamber dynamics of The Selva. The music flows organically and highlights the tight, well-coordinated dynamics of the trio. It shifts from the beautiful and solemn «Lei Milão» to the exotic, heavily processed «Dança Babuíno» with its detailed noises, and to the more claustrophobic and unsettling electronics of «Fruta Mascarada». But then The Silva surprises with the addictive groove of «Abel João» with a magnificent solo of Jacinto, processed, distorted and multiplied. «Cocuruto», with Jacinto on the harmonium, begins with minimalist percussive sounds and slowly gravitates into a ritualist soundscape with a hypnotic, heavy pulse that may continue to grind into your brain long after listening to Camarão-Girafa. But then, again, The Selva goes full circle to the gentle and solemn, chamber atmosphere of the opening piece with the last «Blues Canino», adding now more lyrical, melancholic veins.
Camarão-Girafa invites repeated listening, each one exploring more about its rare addictive qualities.
Eyal Hareuveni
Ricardo Jacinto (cello, electronics, harmonium), Gonçalo Almeida (double bass, electronics), Nuno Morão (drums, percussion)
