Samuel Góes

Samuel Góes came out of Fortaleza, Ceará, and put out his first album in 2006. It was called 'Nem Tanto Céu Nem Tanto Mar', and the title track became the song people knew him for. That record had a kind of quiet, melancholic pull, with lyrics that felt more like poetry than straightforward pop.

His music sits somewhere between traditional Brazilian styles like MPB and samba and something more contemporary and folk-oriented. He's been compared to Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan at times, probably because of that introspective, lyric-focused approach. Another track like 'Raso' shows a similar feel, spare and thoughtful.

There was a plagiarism accusation in 2018 that got dismissed, and some talk about his reserved manner in public. But mostly, his work is remembered for those early, quietly arresting songs. He released several more albums after that first one, including 'A Alegria de Cantar' in 2008 and 'Sete' in 2011.