On Vagarosa, the gently lilting, quietly insistent rhythms of samba and other sounds of Brazil dissolve into reggae tempos drenched in oceans of dub and dissolve again into global pop of unknown boundaries. Singing mostly in Portuguese but occasionally in English, the Grammy-nominated CéU maintains a calm siren's demeanor, channeling the elegantly expressive and never effusive voices of great Brazilian singers of the past. Skillful sonic manipulation conjures an aural cosmos around her voice, calling up memories of the Caribbean and the Near East, '60s movie scores and '60s jazz-rock and psychedelia.
