By Ljubinko Zivkovic, Rock At Night Amsterdam
Review: Late Again – Clearly It’s All Staged – Release date: September 2, 2025
What is a Brazilian musician/artist creating in Brooklyn, NY? Som mutant Bossa Nova or Samba, maybe? Well, not really. Rafael Melo, aka Late Again, likes his sounds somewhere in the electro-tinged dream pop that goes deep into intricate melodic structures that do include traces of his Brazilian background there somewhere (no wonder he has the cover of that great Arthur Verocai album on his Instagram page) making his music quite a bit more than your standard electro dream pop.
Building on his 2024 offering ‘Migraine Fever Dream,’ Melo comes up with ‘Clearly It Is All Staged, a 6-song EP that is all mellow beats and muted, distant vocals that is quite introspective but with a slow, beating pulse making his music quite fluid and dense at the same time. Throughout, Melo presents a true lesson how to convey personal music and make it interesting to anybody that does take a listen. A smooth chilling set of songs fitting for, well any time of day or (particularly) night.
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