Sabrina Malheiros: Equilibria

Herald rating: ***

On this debut, singer Malheiros - whose father Alex is bassist in Brazil's famous Azymuth band - gave her contact book a hammering, so the album comes with some Azymuth assistance plus British jazz funksters Bluey from Incognito and his son DJ Venom, who produces.

Malheiros' career has been long - she has been recording off and on since she was 7 - but latterly she has been remixed by UFO and Kenny Dope for their Brazilian compilations. Which is where DJ Venom came in.

It's a likeable, if sometimes unmemorable, confection with light electronica colourings, some outstanding keyboard work by Kiko Continentino, and the title track is a paean to silence, the beach, sun, passion, magic and so on. Which is emblematic of what is going on - all over familiar, soft and shuffling percussive rhythms.

The album has all the musical cliches of this style: the flittering flute, some breathy bup-bup-da vocals, busy percussion, fat and melodic bass and sultry singing which sometimes barely rises above a whisper. Those who enjoy the genre will find plenty comfortable and easy here for the backdrop to cocktail hour, but to these ears it sounds a little self-satisfied and entranced by its own sense of cool sophistication.

Label: EMI