June 24, 2008 @ 11:00 am

Sergio Mendes, "Encanto"

by: Hua Hsu

The album’s unrepentant glee is unnerving.

Look what Rick Rubin and Johnny Cash have wrought. Encanto is the second album pairing head Black Eyed Pea will.i.am with Mendes, the Brazilian bandleader who became a global star in the 1960s, thanks to his airy take on bossa nova. While will.i.am’s arrangements achieve a colorful cheer on tracks like “Agua de Beber” and the skittering, Fergie-starring “The Look of Love,” the album’s unrepentant glee is unnerving. Even Mendes’ poppiest originals trafficked in texture and mood, elements lacking on the house-influenced “Waters of March” and the poolside pop of “Funky Bahia,” which approaches the pure delirium of being in the sun for too long.

Article tags: Revolutions, Sergio Mendes

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