Visions of Dawn (The Paris 1976 Project)

For decades, singer/songwriter Joycé Silveira Palhano de Jesus — commonly known as Joyce — has been a force in Brazilian music. Visions of Dawn is a real find: recorded in Paris in 1976 with producer and multi-instrumentalist Mauricio Maestro and percussionist Nanà Vasconcelos, it remained unreleased until 2009. The album opens with the incredibly catchy “Banana,” where Joyce’s gorgeous vocals are backed by lively acoustic guitar and inventive percussion. It’s striking how the relatively spare accompaniment so effectively fills out the sound spectrum. “Clareana,” a gentle song that Joyce wrote for her two daughters, comes flecked with delicate cymbal hits and whistled tones. (The music box at the end of the track is a nice closing touch for this sophisticated lullaby.) The album’s centerpiece is a three-part suite comprised of the ethereal opening section, “Memorias do Porvir;” “Visoes do Amanhecer,” which features driving drums and scat singing; and the psych-folk-prog of “Carnavalzinho.” Visions wraps up with “Chegada,” which brims with lovely fingerpicking and some truly wild vocalizing.