Svengali - "Levantado"

"For women, the best aphrodisiacs are words. The G-spot is in the ears." - Isabel Allende

I have reached an impasse. English plurals can be tricky; not an altogether uncommon sentiment among English language speakers. On more than one occasion an -s suffix simply does not suffice. Consider the moose: it is, I am told, proper to say meese when referring to more than one of these helicopter prone creatures. Which brings me to the present, where I am confronted by the term 'muse' and my own frustration - currently acting as a reminder that hypertension does indeed run in my family lineage.

Grammar aside, the history of the muse as inspiration is long and storied. In the plastic arts, Dali had Gala and Warhol had fame. Tarantino has produced a feature or two with Uma Thurman much like Bergman had a proclivity for working with Liv Ullman. Music, although not visual, is no different. Female passion can be expressed with words just as much as with looks. Although not exclusive to all musicians, Jaloo understood this premise well. Throughout his techno-brega catalog, a common theme for the defunct Belem producer is making the most of feminine emotion through nostalgiac re-workings. Although the mutual affinity for Miley Cyrus that Svengali and Jaloo share is coincidental, the premise is similar. A member of last Kuchibiru Network compilation, Svengali's music is housey and cloudy and modern and pretty, but much more importantly ir focuses on simplicity. These songs only ask of their audience to enjoying the sounds. Like his chosen subjects - Bieber and a young Hilary Duff, for example - Svengali's tracks aim innocence past; even if the most vivid memories of the music is teddy bears, foam fingers, and Robin Thicke.

Released a little over a week ago, "Levantado" too uses a Miley Cyrus single. Rather than select a MikeWillMadeIt production, though, the song at hand is from the Hannah Montana movie: "The Climb." To be more specific, Svengali picks out the introductory lines and piano; passing the previous through a northward pitch change, and not without reason. The tempo of the song is much faster than the original ballad, which happened to also lack a thumping kick drum and peripheral sound effects. Regardless, Svengali's coup de grace is a fabricated duet. Miley's voice is altered by a lower pitch, in the process creating an emotional, albeit synthetic, male-female exchange. All of this is only to be outdone by the change in rhythm after the "male" portion sings the bridge and the high-pitched vocals shift into a harmonic gear. A pleasant listen, a harmless listen, whose likelihood to be replayed is entirely subjective

- John Noggle