Don't be put off by the cover as this 'Curió Curió’ isn't as curious curious as it would appear with Mr Bongo getting deep into modern Brazilian MPB tropicalia!
Rooted in Brazilian MPB and shaped by psychedelic disco and studio experimentation, Curió Curió is the meeting point between Rio-born singer and actress Luiza Monteiro and German producer Dustin Braun. Treating tradition as something alive, migratory and unresolved, their self-titled debut album is not simply bound by a shared love of Brazilian music but a deeper question that runs through every track. Where does one belong when home becomes plural?
“I have been living in Europe for nine years”, says Monteiro. “At some point I realised I was no longer the same person I had been in Rio but I was not fully from here either. The album comes from that question: where do I belong?”.
That question is never answered directly. Instead it is carried through images, fragments and gestures. A barefoot figure looking out across Guanabara Bay in ‘Tô Chegando’, a family calling someone back in ‘Vem pra Casa’, a voice learning to trust itself in ‘Menina Passarinho’. The album moves between cities and emotional registers without settling, tracing a sense of identity that shifts rather than resolves.
Braun’s production follows a similar logic. Initial ideas were often built without obvious reference points, only later pulling in rhythmic and vocal elements that hint at Brazil without reproducing it. “We wanted it to feel authentically Brazilian without being cliché, like something you recognise but cannot fully place”, says Braun. Analogue techniques, tape, ribbon microphones and live ensemble recording bring a tactile quality that reflects the duo’s interest in process as much as outcome.
Many of the album’s defining moments come from chance encounters. The choir on ‘Bem Querer’ emerged from a bar conversation that led to a group of non-professional singers gathering in a room to capture a shared energy. “The euphoria of people being together has that authentic samba street vibe”, Braun explains. “That feeling cannot be simulated”.
Elsewhere, the record opens itself to more intimate moments. ‘Vida que Entorna (Interlúdio)’ was recorded in a single take over field recordings from a family birthday in Brazil. “The song is about my father being ill”, Monteiro says. “When we listened back to it we were both very moved. And that was it. It was ready”.
The push and pull between collective expression and personal reflection shapes the listening experience. There is a sense of movement throughout, between dancefloor and interior space, between immediacy and memory. “In the first moment I want people to feel joy”, Monteiro says. “To move, to dance, to feel present. Then later I want them to reflect. To think about where they come from, who they miss, what home means to them”.
That duality extends into the themes of love, work and creative identity. Songs like ‘Amor Doente’ and ‘Mar sem Dar Pé’ circle around relationships that resist clarity, while ‘Menina Passarinho’ captures the fear and necessity of committing to music as a path. For Monteiro, deepening her commitment to music alongside years in theatre was both inevitable and difficult.“For a long time I was afraid to invest in music because it matters so much to me”, she says. “This project was a way of accepting that I need it in my life”.
The album closes with ‘A Cor do Meu Sonho’, a quiet act of insistence. A refusal to shrink in unfamiliar environments, and a belief in the strength of difference. It is less a conclusion than a continuation, leaving the central question open. “I started to understand that I can belong to many places at once”, Monteiro reflects. “And that can be something to embrace”. Lyrics from the song ‘Raiz’ translate in English to “I value a burning sun and the cold in the air. Constant change is my companion”. With Curió Curió, that idea is lived through sound, story and collaboration. A debut that feels both searching and assured, grounded in heritage yet shaped by distance.
BUY LINK / PRE-ORDER: https://bfan.link/curio-curio-1
Title: 'Curió Curió’
Release Date : 24th July, 2026
Label : Mr Bongo Records
Catalog Number : MRBCDLP343
Format: Digital / Bandcamp
%20-%20KROK.jpg)
