The second collaborative album from Laetitia Sadier and Brazil’s Mombojó.
Modern Cosmology is a musical ensemble composed of six individuals of the human race, none of which are cosmologists or astronomers, although Felipe S. – who sings and plays the guitar – knows quite a bit about reading astrological charts. He shares his frontperson duties with one Laetitia Sadier who, by virtue of her singer-songwriter career both as a solo artist and as part of the Stereolab ‘groop’, happens to be one of the key figures of her bandmates’ musical formation. “What will you grow now?” started in late 2016 on a recording session Mombojó did on a motorboat up the Capibaribe river in their Recife hometown. The title track was recorded there and then during this fluvial jam session, and the other backing tracks were recorded about a year later at a recording studio at the local University, after which Laetitia had a bunch of new material to add words and melodies to, from her Brazilian friends and bandmates with love.
Modern Cosmology: What Will You Grow Now?
The newly minted Modern Cosmology’s first release was 2016’s “Summer Long”, an intoxicating EP to anyone who appreciates Stereolab’s dabblings in bossa nova and has wondered what a space-age Os Mutantes might sound like. Seven years later, they return with What Will You Grow Now?, a full-length LP that’s among the most inventive work either party has ever made, amply demonstrating the “freedom and joy” Sadier found in Mombojó’s amiable company.
Though Stereolab’s reactivation and other projects kept Sadier far from Brazil, they connected online to work on songs started in Recife and others that grew out of Mombojó jams (such as the free-flowing one recorded on a boat that yielded the album’s title track). The project also provided some solace to the participants amid the turbulence that surrounded its creation… Uncut
Whenever they find time to record, Modern Cosmology – the project of Laetitia Sadier and the Brazilian group Mombojó – taps into a chemistry so strong it endures even though they’re usually separated by thousands of miles. Their debut EP, 2017’s Summer Long, was the result of a two-week retreat where Sadier joined the band in Recife, and the spontaneity of recording whatever and whenever they wanted could be felt in its swirling Tropicália, psychedelia, and electronic pop. By contrast, What Will You Grow Now? was nearly seven years in the making, with Stereolab’s reunion, the political climate of the late 2010s and early 2020s, and the COVID-19 global pandemic stretching out Modern Cosmology’s creative process. Despite these delays – and the fact that Mombojó and Sadier had to record their parts remotely – the project’s first full-length is a lovely and thoughtful statement of purpose. All Music
Audio CD:
Vinyl:
- Making Something (06:03)
- Le Train Ne Passera Pas (05:10)
- Consent For Life (07:08)
- What Will You Grow Now? (06:26)
- Trauma Release Makes Free (04:31)
- A Time To Blossom (07:18)