Brazilian rock outfit Wannabe Jalva may be based out of the city of Porto Alegre, but their sound, carrying little local influence, is one that draws inspiration from distant corners of the planet and beyond. Their newest EP, Collecture, is a versatile and fluctuating work of mellow but passionate sonic exploration. Their sound, which they describe as “uterus space-groove rock,” combines elements of psychedelia and indie all pushing a steady flow of chillout grooves alternating with fast-paced rock.
Opener to Collecture is “Mainline,” a piece with varying tempos providing a hybrid sound of desert and space rock, a crossbreed of sorts between Queens Of The Stone Age and Muse. The second song, “Melt,” slows things down and establishes the spacey roots of the band’s sound more clearly with a groovy and smooth bassline, hazy vocal delivery, and subtle guitar resonance that lead into a slightly more up-tempo closing. The mid-record track “One Way Street” does even more to combine elements. A slower piece that seems to be an attempt to write a hard rock lullaby, it is both the heaviest and drowsiest number of the EP. “Miracle” continues to delve in the melancholic drowsiness, but takes a turn from the hard rock and substituting more indie and pop elements, best identified by the starkly different guitar and catchy vocal hooks. Closing the album is “Down The Sea,” which, although similar to “Melt,” delivers a quirky vibe that is meddled with an underlying bitterness, eventually bursting into a powerful rock ending.
Collecture is a brilliant work of eclecticity and experimentation. Fewer genres could have been more effectively picked to feature together on a rock record, and none would be as spot-on at complementing each other. Almost as if carefully studying the perfect formula, this band has combined every genre that best delivered the most foot-tapping, sleepy rock possible.
In A Word: Chloroform
