Over the last several years, guitarist Arto Lindsay has mellowed out a bit, ditching his avant-garde noise roots and embracing the sounds of Brazilian tropicalia music and the work of artists such as Gilberto Gil and Jobim. On Invoke, his music--leaner, filled with beats, and prescribed to funky rhythms that owe themselves to no particular region of the world--continues to evolve. He still toys with both English and Portuguese lyrics, but the romantic acoustic ballads found on his previous efforts are mostly gone, replaced by more loops, break beats, and the brooding bass of Melvin Gibbs. The gorgeous tenderness found on "Delgada" makes the track a standout, while "Over/Run" is the album's most infectious, hook-laden composition, seamlessly melding the beats of electronica with Lindsay's trademark vocal delivery. Lindsay takes chances--a few of the album's dozen tracks are throwaways--but, like Moreno Veloso, he's forging his own style of world music. --Jason Verlinde