I have always found instrumental music much more cerebral than lyrical pieces. Having something said aloud appears to drain most of the energy, fun, and originality from it. It’s like having David Attenborough detail, in the Queen’s English, how a sensible fellow should emote as penguins take the plunge down a 50 ft cliff amidst titanic waves to begin a week-long journey in order to provide for the next generation. And some of them don’t make it. How is one supposed to scavenge that second-hand emotion and still stand tall as a human being? Has that merry-morning slammed the door on you?

Jolly good. Here’s some up-beat jazz to parley with the newly settled gloom. As usual, my familiarity with jazz in particular is rather limited to superficial bouts. I seem to write of this every time. Yet it has never stopped me from following that boiler-plate with some protracted analysis using said facile expertise.

Silibrina is a septet from Brazil, fronted by Gabriel Nóbrega, who arrange/compose most of the numbers on their new album O Raio. “Ponteado” is one of them. The theme running through the whole set is at once exciting, catchy, and familiar. I find it hard not to quantum-entangle this track with sunny beaches (“entangle with boggy quagmires” would technically be more accurate if you think about it, but those are scientific facts that we don’t have time for). Those of you better educated might immediately recognize it as a part of some standard – but it’s eluding my identification. Regardless, it’s a center point worth revisiting throughout the 5 minutes, though still a bit on the brash side for me. This is less a track for quiet contemplation, more something that I would use at Halcyon to tune out the common masses as they drink their cafe latte, too poor to spare a thought for those penguins. Heartless bastards.