Nina Miranda & Chris Franck Present Zeep

If the latest project from Nina Miranda and Chris Franck, the folks behind Smoke City (whose "Underwater Love" was one of the more forgivable Levis soundtracks) isn't quite the promised musical jam between geniuses North and South, from Led Zeppelin to Os Mutantes (it's a bit too much of a careful homage for that), then it comes pretty damn close.

The husband-and-wife partnership had the support of a glittering array of musicians in the making of Zeep, but what impresses most is the easeful, unhurried and intuitive quality of the players, hailing variously from Brazil, Africa and the UK and including various former Level 42, Pat Metheney and Steve Winwood alumni, as well as vocals from Kenny Lynch and the sax of Jason Yarde (Hugh Masekela and Roy Ayres).

Braxilian influences predominate throughout, never more so than when the band do a fairly uncanny Gilberto Gil impression on "Come with Me", one of the album's highlights along with the r&b; samba "Keeping an Eye on Love", the bossa "Baby" (which wins my vote for most romantic song of the year), the magical "Agua" and the funk-rock of "Super", but there are delights and surprises throughout, as on the expansive "Zeep Dreams" which also features Senegalese djembe player Mamadou Sarr and vocalist Diabel Cissoko, or the Portuguese "Sem Pensar".

The homegrown influence is mostly to be found in the song lyrics, which are often quirky and endearing when they are not downright silly, and generally add a refreshing air of originality to the project.

On initial exposure it might be easy to dismiss Zeep as pretty summer background music, but this is an album that repays closer listening; you may even find it just about makes up for the inevitable failures of the British summer.