Post-Carnival Whimsy

It remains to be seen if Moreno Veloso +2 will be accompanied onstage this Saturday with a cardboard cutout of Peter Rabbit and "indulge in falsetto banter like Brazilian Monty Python characters," as The Guardianreported at one of their London gigs last year. But we can expect Veloso, Domenico Lancelloti, and Alexandre Kassin to display a skillful blend of musical irreverence and pure poetry.

On the trio's critically celebrated debut Music Typewriter, Veloso's delicate guitar is backed by Lancelloti on drum machine and bassist Kassin to create a mix of digitally ambient samba, acoustic ballads, rock, funk, and jazz, supported by a pleasing array of electronic bells and blips. Veloso, son of Caetano, tends to write quotidian, contemporary lyrics that sound like conversations with friends. But when he softly sings sweet, symbolic verses like "It's love that leads/Brings here, and says yes/In us and has no end," he reveals himself to be his father's son.