Bala Desejo. Sim Sim Sim .
Dora Morelenbaum, Julia Mestre, Lucas Nunes, and Zé Ibarra emerged from the confinement of Rio with diverse experiences and creative processes and decided that this variety should be reflected in their songs. Bala Desejo is like a juice with many ingredients, with a nostalgic and joyful aura, typical Brazilian sounds, and a lot of charisma, and perfect for listening to on a sunny Sunday morning
Mr Bongo – MRBLP269R
Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Red
UK, 2023
Latin, MPB
"Brazilian quartet Bala Desejo produce a luscious debut in Sim Sim Sim, traversing 70s tropicalia to samba, horn fanfares and funk, all anchored by the group’s soft, collective harmonies.” The Guardian
"A new generation of Brazilian samba stars. 4/5. ” The Times
'Sim Sim Sim' is the Latin Grammy award-winning debut album from Bala Desejo. A band who are at the forefront of Rio de Janeiro’s artistic renaissance, they channel influences of Brazilian 60s Tropicália, 70s psychedelia and MPB to create a nostalgic, yet joyfully, avant-garde sound.
The band is comprised of four distinct characters, each one an incredible talent in their own right and each with impressive credentials in the Brazilian Independent music scene. Central to the resurgent Rio de Janeiro musical community, the quartet of Dora Morelenbaum, Julia Mestre, Lucas Nunes and Zé Ibarra thrive in a group dynamic. They formed Bala Desejo to play collaboratively for a festival date in 2021, but when that show became a victim of pandemic shutdowns the idea for an album project materialised.
'Sim Sim Sim’, which translates into English as ‘Yes Yes Yes’, weaves through a fusion of genres, taking twists and turns as it progresses. There is Tropicália, MPB, rock, samba-canção soul-funk and reggae in the mix. It possesses many of the qualities of a classic album from Brazilian music’s golden era of the 60s and 70s, but also manages to sound very now, which is not an easy task to pull off. As solo musicians, they have worked and collaborated with Brazilian icons Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso and Milton Nascimento to name but a few. Bala Desejo feels like a natural extension of what came before, taking the baton from these luminaries, adding their unique spin and moving the sound forward.
When we first heard Bala Desejo, we were blown away. Their epic theatrical live shows leave audiences stunned and they are the band we had always been hoping to find. A modern-day Novos Baianos or Mutantes, but definitely not an imitation. They celebrate their influences, but are an innovative group, and consequently, they have created one of the finest records to come out of Brazil in recent years. A truly sensational debut!
