Ti Santos’s latest offering “Ca Podi Para” has a distinctly calming mood about it. The artist’s leading voice lays soaked in reverb and rides softly alongside of the ambiance – his performance and its placement within the track bring a feeling of both rap and melody all at once.
Structurally the track evolves in a powerful way. Just as you think you know the system, the whole thing erupts into something new – the vibe changes after the first pause, exploding into something much more high energy, passionate, even chaotic. This again breaks down for the voicemail skit just after the center point of the song. Then the ambiance rises back up, then the flow changes a little, and you really start to focus on the lyrics from here on in. As is always the case, Ti Santos’s work takes the form of a confident yet gradual builder, not providing anything other than the art of the moment, slowly but surely surrounding you in the story and the sentiment.
Structurally the track is really interesting. As stated, the beat begins in a subtle and delicate way, but over the space of almost three minutes the soundscape progresses as this uniquely detailed story. The beat is superb, really you notice this more and more as things move along. The intro draws you in with a certain relaxed yet slightly dark vibe, then the leading vocal unfolds, the personal storytelling, the characterful voice. Soon enough, the vocal melody switches to falsetto, and the instrumentation develops into the more distorted and almost chaotic. This is, in hindsight, the perfect build up for the power of the hook section that follows.
The structure of this song is really the most characterful part of its presence. The first 50 seconds or so present a soundscape that later appears to have been from an entirely different moment or scene of the underlying story. Soon after this there’s a pause, followed by the absolute weight and emotional energy of these vocals cascading and colliding around you. The melodic presentation and leading vocal style showcase a hip hop or rap foundation it seems, but all in all there’s a notable delicacy to the performance, teetering perhaps in more of a grunge or melodic hip hop direction than something overly hardcore. It works on a distinctly human level, the chords and notes chosen throughout draw you in for the realness and honesty implied by the sound. It’s an experience that many listeners will likely respond well to.
