A Brazilian expatriate living in Brooklyn, former rock star and hit songwriter Vinicius Cantuária recorded six records in his native land prior to teaming up with producer Arto Lindsay and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto for his first American album. Cantuária always claims that moving to New York actually made him become more Brazilian. Indeed, the deep and understated Sol na Cara ("The Sun on Your Face") consists mostly of subtle bossa nova melodies (often cowritten with Caetano Veloso, Sakamoto, and others) set to the undulating folk rhythms of northern Brazil. While Cantuária's lyrics, soft voice, and nylon-stringed acoustic-guitar playing signify unabashed romanticism (even when he's singing about his favorite soccer players), Sakamoto's atmospheric keyboards lend an air of almost otherworldly cosmopolitanism to a 1996 album that seems to have aged like a fine wine. --Richard Gehr