Brazilian Grooves, Groovy ’60s
By JON PARELES

The Brazilian singer Céu glides smoothly and nonchalantly through the songs on her new album, “Vagarosa” (Urban Jungle/Six Degrees). The title means slow or easygoing, and that’s how she sounds — not in the least nonplussed by a production that constantly toys with disorientation. The album begins with a traditional Brazilian sound — the syncopated strumming of the ukulelelike cavaquinho, the classic samba accompaniment — but it’s soon overlaid with clicks (like scratches on vinyl) to signal its quaintness, sending Céu into arrangements that mingle natural sounds with sampled and manipulated ones. As the production warps and dissolves grooves from Brazil and beyond, there’s a chance for vertigo at any moment. Céu sings about love, time, uncertainty and the possibilities of the night while the music tangles past and present, retro revisionism and worldly interplay. She navigates it all with graceful, sensual aplomb. How? In the album’s only song with English lyrics, Céu sings, “Don’t take yourself too seriously.”