While America was at the cutting edge of electric fusion, Brazil made a sizeable contribution to the sub-genre by way of legendary Rio De Janeiro superband Azymuth. It is not inaccurate to summarise the trio as a samba-based response to the innovations of Herbie Hancock, Weather Report and Chick Corea, yet there was a creative ingenuity at play that made the music more than a Latinzation of US grooves. On this follow-up to their 1980 set Light As A Feather, which contained the breakout hit ‘Jazz Carnival’, Azymuth took the intricacy of Afro-Brazilian percussive traditions into direct contract with state of the art synthesizers to create a kind of strange but beautiful electro bossa. Jose Roberto Bertrami’s keyboards formed a mosaic of colours, with his blissed-out string synthesizer and smouldering Hammond organ particularly vivid elements, while the drums-bass axis of Ivan Conti and Alex Malheiros fizzed funkily underneath. The highlights of the album, above all the dreamily romantic ‘Last Summer In Rio’ and club favourite ‘May I Have This Dance? (Concede-Me Esta Danca?)’ are still hotter than July, even in a sweltering 2022.