Ana Lua Caiano – Vou Ficar Neste Quadrado Review

What does Ana Lua Caiano sound like?

Experimental indie folk mixing traditional Portuguese music with alternative electronic beats and synths.

The review of ‘Vou Ficar Neste Quadrado’ by Ana Lua Caiano

Occasionally an album comes along that smashes together so many ideas and styles that it births a unique sub-genre. Ana Lua Caiano’s debut album is one such album. It is an electronic album first and foremost but you can hear the traditional roots of Portuguese music pulsing through every beat and sound. Other artists do similar things but this album has a sense of abandon and experimentalism that few others do.

The album opens with a short car radio and vocal hum ‘Em Direção Ao Sul’. This introduces you to the sonic painting styles of Ana Lua Caiano, largely informed by musique concrete (modifying real-world sounds through tape cutting). Atmospheric real-world sounds are dotted throughout the album but they barely feature in the traditional group chant and electro-beat ‘O Bicho Anda Por Aí’. This is a pointed club banger hiding behind direct and aggressive chants. Somewhere between Juana Molina and a seance is where this track sits. ‘Os Meus Sapatos Não Tocam Nos Teus’ then brings in demonic tango piano. Keeping the skittish beats and deeply layered music, synths glitch in and out between bursts of dramatic overlord piano riffs. It shouldn’t work but Ana sells the pensive, and at times, haunting mood perfectly.

Ana Lua Caiano’s use of vocal chant layering reminds me of the French sensation Camile. Both push their voices forward in wild and interesting ways and take the traditional into the weird and wonderful. ‘Mais Alto Que O Meu Juízo’ takes a traditional style chant and layers it alongside car horns and detuned string plucks as if the song is out of control. Playful and unusual, it’s a wild two minutes. ‘Cansada’ uses the voice and mouth for most of the instrumentation. Tongue clicks and laboured breath make up much of the percussion whilst synths tremble like quaking bones in a farcical circus act. The balance between elegance and breakdown is carefully nuanced in ‘Ando Em Círculos’. There is an element of madness that creeps in throughout the album and the circular explosions and as Ana Lua Caiano sings the title (which means “I walk in circles”) sends us spiralling into the abyss.

Taking the electronic beats and whispering half the track, ‘De Cabeça Colada Ao Chão’ is like a stealth assassination mission as a club track. The harsh production with hardly any reverb lets the thundering beats and deep synth bass channel a sci-fi horror with lots of mechanical sounds and static noise bursts to become the cymbals and hi-hats. The song is atmospheric in a techie way rather than a mystical traditional way and Ana Lua Caiano’s ability to do both is what sets her apart. The traditional horror of ‘Deixem O Morto Morrer’ uses flutes and brassy bass synths to unleash Ana’s inner Gazelle Twin. The song translates to “let the dead die” and this song feels like a ritual with its glitchy manic outro.

As we move into the latter third of the album, we reach the throbbing and sensual ‘Que Belo Dia Para Sair’. The song crosses the borders of sensuality and danger as the glitchy mechanical beats and noises freak out over a twisting vocal. It brings us to the title track ‘Vou Ficar Neste Quadrado’. This translates to “I will stay in this square” and is a shuffling melting pot of all the albums’ ideas. Ana’s voice is layered like a choral group as always, the beats move from rhythmic to skittish and the instrumentation brings the past, present and future together. Sounds are chopped up and scattered like ashes.

I feel like the song (and album) is a comment on the world trying to pigeonhole everything – music included. Ana says she believes traditional music is always evolving. You can create it on a computer and sing about today’s issues and themes using yesterday’s deep-rooted culture. She’s showing that none of the tools, ideas or sounds she creates is stuck in any square – even if you might hear a community perform this in one. The album closes with radio static dance track ‘Bom, Vai Ficar Assim Por Hoje’ and a vocal only live version of ”Deixem O Morto Morrer’ with Essence Voices.

When I get to the end of 2024 and I think about what albums defined my year, Ana Lua Caiano will be prominent. The merger of past, present and future is sublime. The sonic palette Ana works with is expansive and creative yet everything feels rooted in traditional culture too. It takes a lot to be both experimental and still take listeners along with you by providing a breadcrumb trail of accessibility and ‘Vou Ficar Neste Quadrado’ does just that. You could play it in a club or a Portuguese village and both would feel at home whilst thinking “Hmm, that’s different” too. A genuinely unique vision of music in 2024 and an absolute tour de force in every way. Artists like Ana Lua Caiano are why I spend hours on this website. I love discovering new music that resonates so deeply on the first listen and this is one of them. Ten out of ten.

Recommended track: Ando Em Círculos

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