Carol Maia & Jeremy Gustin ‘it's nice to see a lake in your eyes’ (Hive Mind Records) - a review

Words by Justin Turford

It’s fairly common practice these days for artists to collaborate with each other over long distances. Musical stems are shared instantly, the old-fashioned studio room no longer a necessity in the digital age when musicians can guest on each other’s records without ever meeting. Carol Maia and Jeremy Gustin have created an album with thousands of miles between Carol’s home in Rio de Janeiro and Jeremy’s in Brooklyn but have done so with a rare alchemy. Intimate, quietly funky and transcendental in its poetic beauty, 'it's nice to see a lake in your eyes' is a remarkable record.

The brilliant Hive Mind Records is a perfect fit for the two artists, Carol was heavily involved on Wolfgang Pérez's ‘Só Ouço’ album which I raved about last year and Jeremy provided the drum foundation for Ricardo Dias Gomes’ excellent ‘Muito Sol’ record which appeared on the label back in 2023. There’s something beautifully organic and natural about how the Brighton imprint operates, a metaphorical space that encourages family members to take turns singing their song at a birthday party.

Jeremy is a drummer, percussionist, songwriter and producer who has toured and recorded with artists as diverse as Joan as Policewoman, Iggy Pop, David Byrne, Marc Ribot, Delicate Steve, and Norah Jones whereas singer-songwriter Carol is an emerging light in the new wave of Rio’s never-ending lineage of wonderful musicians. The duo are not entirely alone, however, inviting along musicians from the Rio and Brooklyn scenes, most of them involved in the aforementioned releases in some way. A continuum of collaborative energy that appears to just keep finding creative gold.

‘Bubbles’ unveils the album with gorgeous simplicity. A haunted but pretty piano riff is joined by a delicate oboe and a slow-paced tom drum groove before the dual voices of Jeremy and Carol join together as gentle and as sweetly harmonised as a lullaby. Frederico Heliodoro’s bass and guitar add a restrained elastic funk to this lovely opener.

The trippy fonk of ‘Aloe’ drips with a melting Alice in Wonderland atmosphere, the circular dampened drum and percussion pattern encouraging a feeling of falling over or into the spacey dropdown moments, where Carol’s seductive rap becomes a murmuring siren call.

Frederico swaps his bass guitar for the microphone on the dreamy pop-bossa number ‘Um Pouco Vivo’ and he does it very well. I say bossa but it’s not quite nova, sweeping synthetic textures and brushed drums embellish cleverly composed chords, each change a benign surprise.

Pop music in the best sense, ‘Um Lugar’ is a brightly coloured, well-constructed song shimmering with acoustic guitar, harpsichord and rich electronic keys, Carol’s buttery voice persuasive and inviting. Never taking the straight road, Jeremy’s drums and quirky instrumentation keep it fascinating.

‘Side Mirror’ eschews vocals altogether and winds its own weird way via angled keys and even more angular drums. A prettified avant garde incursion that doesn’t feel out of place.

As straightforward as anything on the record, the sparkling ‘Deixa Lá’ sees Carol at her most soulful and direct over a bed of elderly piano, synth embellishments and a tight rhythm section that never strays too far. Paulo Emmery adds in a little of the sophisticated guitar chops he displayed on Wolfgang Pérez’s album.

A sun-baked jazz ballad constructed from woozy synths, ‘Mansidão’ belies its ‘meek’ song title as it veers into horizontal, psychedelic territory, sounding like something from Miami Vice with slight head trauma. The freefalling interlude where Norah Stanley flickers through with her saxophone is welcome but probably enough to keep it off mainstream radio!

Highly reminiscent of Kadhja Bonet’s early releases (without the orchestration), ‘As Horas’ is a fabulous collage of multi-tracked backing voices, laidback drums and a sensual lead vocal from Carol that is as much Los Angeles as it is Rio.

The title track 'it's nice to see a lake in your eyes' doesn’t feel like a title track at all. Even slower than the rest of the album, the tune is a peacefully expanding meditation, Jeremy’s deep-breaths of wavy, cyclical keys complimented by unobtrusive live and digital percussion. Nothing in a hurry.

One of my initial favourites on the album, the dusty psychedelia of ‘Vou Ficar’ mixes up the lineup with Ricardo Dias Gomes, a surprise guest on lead vocal alongside his guitar sideman on ‘Muito Sol’, Will Graefe. Carol and Jeremy echo away on this atmospheric masterwork of unidentifiable intent. The title says “I will stay”, the music feels like he’s leaving.

Ricardo takes charge of the mic again on ‘Lake Of Meaning’, an acoustic guitar and wobbly synth-fronted MPB ballad with gorgeous backing vocals from Carol and Beatles-esque piano frills. A great example of the way players can swap musical roles between songs without the album losing its identity.

‘Flow Wolf’ shapeshifts from calm to abrasive with delightful ease. Jazzy drum break interruptions, dreamy voice and piano middle passages and tightly strung ‘verses’ somehow co-exist together without losing its charm.

With less than a minute of running time, ‘Plim’ wraps up this beautiful album with an abrupt chamber-Baroque-folky interlude. Still playful to the end.

Impossible to categorise, Carol and Jeremy’s album is both NYC and Rio yet neither. Elements of post-bossa, no wave experimentalism, nu-tropicália and the L.A. beats scene all reside within their music but there’s an intangible ‘more’ happening here. Maybe the distance between them encouraged a different way of expressing themselves? A deeper, slower response that sharing the same room wouldn’t necessarily allow? Regardless, the partnership has proved a grand success and they must do it again. 9/10.

BUY HERE! https://carolmaiajeremygustin.bandcamp.com/album/its-nice-to-see-a-lake-in-your-eyes