Over a squalling mess of improvised guitar and sax, a twisted, almost broken female vocal cries out to Exu, the gatekeeper of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé. This is the ‘Afro-punk’ sound of Metá Metá – Vocalist Juçara Marçal, saxophonist Thiago França and guitarist Kiko Dinucci – a trio of Sao Paulo’s most sought after musicians, struggling to survive the 21st century sonic schizophrenia of their home city Sao Paulo.

Metá Metá’s sophomore album and debut for Mais Um Discos MetaL MetaL launches itself from the ancient chants of the orixás into a dirty brew of psychedelic samba, distorted jazz and Afro- punk. The band are all followers of candomblé yet Thiago is eager to point out that they are not using the orixás to preach certain beliefs but to provide a framework within which they tell their stories. On MetaL MetaL they mix these spiritual and rhythmic foundations with influences ranging from Afrobeat to Afrosambas, punk rock to be-bop to create chaotic, life-affirming music that explodes with the rage of The Stooges and Sonic Youth, the spirituality of John Coltrane and Sun Ra and the wild, avantgarde instrumentation of contemporary experimental jazz outfits such as Melt Yourself Down and Polar Bear.

The story of Metá Metá begins with Juçara Marçal in 1999. She was traveling Brazil researching indigenous and African-influenced music with her band A Barca. The same year she met Kiko Dinucci, just as he was discovering Candomblé. Juçara subsequently recorded four albums of repertoire influenced by her research but it wasn’t until 2006 that she and Kiko went into the studio together to recorded Padê, a gorgeous acoustic album evoking a wide range of African influenced music and religions. In 2007 the duo asked saxophonist Thiago França to guest perform at a show of theirs and from the first rehearsal they knew that a very special union had been born and went on to give a riotous first performance. The trio’s eponymous first album was released in 2011, now followed by MetaL MetaL, whose addition of Marcelo Cabral on bass and Sergio Machado on drums gloriously showcases a more driving, electrified sound.