Joana Queiroz - Tempo Sem Tempo (2020)

Clarinettist and saxophonist Joana Queiroz's intricate Tempo Sem Tempo (Time Without Time) borrows its name and title-track from a song by celebrated composer, essayist and Brazilian literature professor, José Miguel Wisnik. Wisnik's lyrics tug at the construct of time: "Time goes around and around, Time has absurd revolutions, He is and is not at the same time". For Queiroz, attending a Wisnik concert in Rio, the penny dropped: she started to weep and Wisnik's "Tempo Sem Tempo" began looping in her brain. Time without time - both the song and notion - was the springboard for Queiroz's album.
Queiroz arranged each of her original compositions so that she could play them herself, utilising loop pedals to build rich, elaborate textures. She then elected four vocal pieces - "Seu Olhar" (Gilberto Gil), "Jóia" (Caetano Veloso), "Tempo Sem Tempo" (Wisnik/Jorge Mautner) and "Dois Litorais" (Mariá Portugal) - which she manipulated into looped, circular forms. Looping is at the heart of this record, both in practice and theory. On Tempo Sem Tempo, each woodwind loop challenges the idea of time and live-ness. Each of Queiroz's compositions sound organic and of-the-moment. But they are made up of loops that are inherently no longer live the minute they're made: each instrument, to paraphrase Wisnik, both "is and is not at the same time".
The product is an enthralling collection of intimate, delicate compositions. On opener, "O Barco", it is a full two minutes before you hear a proper note of music - what precedes is intricate ASMR-inducing breath- and valve-work which ripples down the spine. "O Barco" builds slowly with breathy drones and scalic patterns, looping and spiralling timelessly, unbound by any exact metre. "Memórias", Queiroz notes, is like a ticking clock - but the time is never exact; always lilting and organic rather than measured. The album builds and swells towards its epicentre: Queiroz's breath-taking interpretation of Caetano Veloso's "Jóia", the melody of which is meticulously threaded through its preceding composition, "Beira Do Rio, Beira De Mar". It's on "Jóia" that the complexity of the album's arrangements is fully appreciated. With incredible close-harmony vocals, rumbling drum-work (courtesy of her Quartabê bandmate, Mariá Portugal) and intriguing production, everything falls into place. Tempo Sem Tempo is indeed without time: it isn't interested in linearity; rather it is a record that is light and spacious and moves delicately from one idea to the next.
Tracklist:
01. Joana Queiroz - O Barco (7:52)
02. Joana Queiroz - Memórias (6:57)
03. Joana Queiroz - Seu Olhar (4:31)
04. Joana Queiroz - Cidade (4:34)
05. Joana Queiroz - Beira de Rio, Beira de Mar (4:22)
06. Joana Queiroz - Jóia (2:31)
07. Joana Queiroz - Tempo Sem Tempo (4:28)
08. Joana Queiroz - Dois Litorais (5:44)
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