Hackett in Brazil (part one). Having exited the "Defector" tour stressed and overdosed on aspirin, Stefanuzzo decides to take refuge with Kim in her homeland, Brazil, and relax nicely for a few months, maybe writing some songs between drinks, a swim, and some lovemaking. And yes, this first Brazilian album of his (no musical influences, it was conceived and written there) isn't great. You can tell it’s the typical ultra-relaxed album of an artist making music during a serene time without putting in too much effort, just casually. Kim was also on vacation, no painting for the cover, just a photo she took of her husband, where Steve's expression reveals the vastness of how little he cared about putting effort into composing at that moment. But this kind of light-light pop doesn't suit him well, and the album is filled with very dull little songs (the nicest is "Hope I Don’t Wake Up," even if it sounds, to put it mildly, reminiscent of Yes, from around the same time, of course). Steve sings it solo (horrible choice), and indeed, the instrumentals save it: "Air-Conditioned Nightmare" is nice and the already typical classical guitar piece ("Cradle of Swans") raises the level of an album among his absolute worst. A couple of tracks could have been better, perhaps, but they weren't; the rest is mediocre pop with horrible backing vocals and sung parts.
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