sessa: pequena vertigem de amor
Francisco Espregueira
Hailing from São Paulo, Sessa, whose artistry elegantly draws from Tropicália, cosmic jazz, and psychedelic soul, presents his third full-length album, Pequena Vertigem de Amor, or "Lil' Love Vertigo." Released on the adventurous Brooklyn-based Mexican Summer label—an imprint known for championing experimental pop and boundary-pushing artists—this record marks a sonic and thematic evolution. Sessa's previous works explored the visceral and carnal desires of intimacy (Grandeza from 2019 & Estrela Acessa from 2022); with this new chapter, his view shifts upward. It's an exploration of universality found in the profound intimacy of becoming a father, with the songs acting as quiet meditations on life's immense changes. This radical reordering of his personal world, which he notes moved music from the center to the side of his life, surprisingly opened up fresh creative channels, allowing melodies to emerge directly from the daily rhythm of life.
The transformation on Pequena Vertigem de Amor is beautifully mirrored in the expanded musical palette. Moving beyond the guitar-centric focus of his earlier albums, Sessa’s tracks this existential shift on magnetic tape at his co-founded studio, Cosmo. The sound is described as "a bit more nocturnal, open-ended, crooked funky," integrating new instruments like a primitive drum machine, piano, synthesizer, and wah-wah guitar. You can hear this new rhythmic sensibility on tracks like "Dodói," which loops an effortlessly funky acoustic riff accentuated by propulsive bass and aggressive percussion. Adding a layer of classic Bossanova and MPB, the album features urgent piano stabs from Marcelo Maita, whose rhythmic attacks on "Nome de Deus" steer the piece in the complete absence of Sessa's guitar, proving that this exhilarating "love vertigo" fuses both novel and familiar sounds in celebration of life's complex rites of passage. Available on vinyl. A piece for collectors.