Yonlu "A Society in Which No Tear Is Shed Is Inconceivably Mediocre" (Luaka Bop, 2009)
An intriguing, sometimes brilliant lo-fi, bedroom-recording indie rock album from a teenager from Porto Alegre, Brazil. Vinicius Gageiro Marques, aka Yonlu, was an avid Internet denizen, both in music groups where he shared his homemade music and, more tragically, on a suicide forum where in 2006 he web-chatted during his final moments as he killed himself through carbon monoxide poisoning, a month before his 17th birthday. His musical legacy is both impressive and tantalizing -- it's a skillful, multi-textured set that is most similar to arty rock bands such as Badly Drawn Boy, et. al but also nods towards Brazilian tropicalia and bossa nova; had he lived through his depression, Yonlu could have grown into a major artist. Most of the songs are in English, and while I would have preferred more material sung in Portuguese, the set is still impressive, a document of a hip, 21st Century pop sensibility that lies under the surface in the modern Brazilian pop scene. A tragic record, true, but an effective and unusual one as well. Definitely worth checking out.
