Sessa, the São Paulo musician known for his enchanting debut album Grandeza, returns with an expansive collection of songs built with reverence for the deep historical traditions of Brazilian music, now adorned with elegant strings, cascades of hypnotic rhythm, and his seductive backing choir. While Grandeza is about the softness of the human body, and the drunkenness of being in love, Estrela Acesa surrounds love’s fragility, and the hangover of it all.
Recorded between June and September 2021 in Ilhabela and Piracaia, Brazil, and New York City, the twelve songs of Estrela Acesa, which translates to “Burning Star”, are inspired by the majesty of being a witness to and an agent of life. Estrela Acesa is music about music, and for that it is drenched in melancholy and the mystery of night.
Sessa’s songs are sung in Portuguese, with visceral, sensual lyrics, and melodic flourishes not unlike those of Tom Jobim. However, the music gets a deliberate minimalist treatment rarely found in contemporary Brazilian music, more reminiscent of the bareness of Leonard Cohen.