Last year the quartet launched a daring album that walks the fine line between modern blues music, jazz and funk.
When asked about the album, guitarist and songwriter Fernando Poiana says that “the record is full of stories of people who try to bend the circumstances only to discover that they can’t do it so easily. All that is peppered with a tinge of escapism here, a bit of humour there, and some quiet anger and desperation in the middle. All these feelings we try to ironically contrast with markedly upbeat music that you can dance to. All in all, the blues thrives in the art of the double-entendre, as Paul Oliver has described in his books about the blues, and that countless records have shown and used over the years”.
Indeed, “Stray Cat” has a menacing yet uplifting sonic atmosphere that celebrates the ambiguities of blues music. This creates the musical background for the band to tell stories of frustration, deception, self-possession, merriment, loneliness, malice and, weirdly enough, hope. This you can hear in the festive atmosphere of “Baby Blues Boogie”, in the minacious ambience of the title track, loosely based on T. S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”, in the jazzy-Latin flavour of “Burning Land” and in the funky/bluesy mood of “Stacked Deck”.
“We speak from a very realistic perspective, and these songs offer very personal interpretations of whatever it is that we call life”, says Poiana, who co-wrote the lyrics to all the songs with João “Baby Blues”, the harp player and lead singer to the group. Poiana also mentions that “everyone in the group contributed musical parts to “Stray Cat” which is, first and foremost, a massive musical joint-venture. And this caused the songs to grow and take the form you can hear now on the album”. Bassist Paulo Garrido and drummer Guilherme Pala complete the Bebop Blues lineup, which also features special guest Hammond wizard Alberto Sabella on the track “Burning Land”, “a song about a fictitious sweltering hot city peopled by pretentious folks”, says Poiana, claiming, tongue in cheek, that it has nothing to do with their native land whatsoever.
In conclusion, Poiana says that “we are essentially a live act, and we are looking forward to getting these songs on the road and playing them live to people as soon as this whole Covid-19 pandemic carnage is over. Yet, while this whole healthcare/political cul-de-sac isn’t solved, we’d better stay at home as much as we can, stay safe and listen to the blues.”
The album “Stray Cat” is available on all streaming platforms.
