Play Or Nay

Brazilian Girls - Brazilian Girls (Verve Forecast)

Talk about musical foreplay--mix a sultry female singer who can tickle the ears in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, on top of some spicy dance club beats, and the end result is something that teases just enough without showing a lot of skin.

Brazilian Girls make their debut after forming just two years ago in the New York City music scene. What they bring to the table are four geographical perspectives (Rome, Buenos Aires, California, Kansas City) with a common musical bond. It's not your ordinary dance music. The roots of electronica and pop are there in the music but with a twist. At the front of Brazilian Girls is Sabina Sciubba, a front-woman already gaining the reputation as unadulterated sensuality with a microphone. Sciubba captures the mood to each song as though she were the one leading the dance. Setting the pace of this dance are Jesse Murphy (bass), Aaron Johnston (drummer), and Didi Gutman (keyboards). One moment, the band is creating a jazzy, dreamlike environment befitting of a classic 1960s James Bond film--the French sung "Homme"--while during another they are the soundtrack to a hot night among sweating bodies at some New York club ("Dance Till The Morning Sun"). "Lazy Lover" seems to act as a homage to the worlds of Burt Bacharach and Henry Mancini.

It's all just a tease. There is a definite worldly flavor that Sciubba brings by singing in other languages other than English, and the band compliments her approach nicely with just the right attitude. But Brazilian Girls seem to hold back just a bit on their self-titled debut. There's no question that this album is filled with style and sophistication. However, the album plays up the smoothness too much. Sexiness in music is easy to fall for when it nibbles just at that right spot, and this album is covered all over in it. That's not a crime. "Pussy" is a not too shy, tongue-in-cheek, playful pop tune. As if walking all alone through Times Square at 4 A.M., hypnotized by the lights, "Ships In The Night" strolls softly into the shadows.

Brazilian Girls turn up the steam but quietly simmer back down. On their debut album, Brazilian Girls do just enough to keep you wanting more.