American audiences who have seen the movies ‘City of God’ or ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou’ know Seu Jorge as an actor, said Gaylord Fields in Rolling Stone. In the latter, he played a deckhand who renders David Bowie songs in lilting Portuguese. Now, the Brazilian singer and actor "breaks free of such gimmickry" for his first record released in the U.S. He relies on traditional, percussive rhythms on several tracks, while on 1 the song "Mania de Peitao" he comes up with an innovative "hip-hop samba." In Brazil, Jorge has been a well-known pop artist for a decade, said Sam Chennault in the Miami New Times. On this disc, he pares things down to "spare acoustic arrangements" and his own "stately hut expressively melodic voice." His cracking deep, and has its flaws, said Ben Ratliff in The New York Times. But with an actor's flair, Jorge uses them to his advantage. In a cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "Chatterton," he imitates the French singer's raspy drawl, "until he has a coughing fit, then turns his voice into a squeak." But he can also dig down for profound emotion on ballads about Rio's poor, stuck in the slums. The album's title means "raw," and it is.