LUCAS SANTTANA – SEM NOSTALGIA

A smorgasbord of styles and genres are melded by Lucas Santtana in this eclectic mix that is centred around Latin flavoured guitar music. There are a few tracks, including the opening Super Violao Mashup, that are sample-based and use the arrangement and pacing style of Electronica. That is, however, without losing the essence of that Latino guitar sound. Sure, the instrumentation might be a little different, with a strong and clear emphasis on using technology, but the feel of these tracks  wouldn’t be too dissimilar to Apollo 440 or the Propellerheads. There are only a few of this style of track, but they are the strongest ones. The rest of the songs are more organic sounding, with a mixture of English and Lucas’ native Brazilian language or Portugese. These tracks have more the relaxed feel of Gomez or Beck. There is some more subtle moments within the album as well, that would be more likely be compared to Swedish-Argentine acoustic phenomenon Jose Gonzales. All in all a solid recording, although possibly too scattered in its pace and feel to be pulled together. A more decisive take on this might be worth pondering for Lucas Santtana’s next release.

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