Published at 11:25 am.
Florence K’s love of Brazilian music, particularly that of Antônio Carlos Jobim, dates back to CEGEP. So far you’ve mostly heard it live, as she’s never recorded her songs before, except for a few in the English versions with crooner Matt Dusk on her album called Quiet Nights – short for Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars, the English title for Corcovado.
Brazil my love brings together some of the most famous titles of the man nicknamed Tom Jobim: Agua de Beber, Desafinado, Corcovado, Insensatez, So Danço Samba, Chega de Saudade, etc. Songs that were recorded over 50 years ago by monuments such as Astrud Gilberto, Joao Gilberto , Elizeth Cardoso and many others. If you do them again, you compare yourself to the greatest.
The approach here is economical: the music is based primarily on the guitar of the Belgian Nicolas Fizsman, whose visit to Nick Petrowski’s studio in Montreal is said to have motivated the recording of the disc. Her playing is exceptionally good and Florence K’s few piano notes naturally embellish this gentle and warm music.
So this Florence K record doesn’t lack elegance. On the other hand, it turns out to be very predictable. We don’t feel like we have access to a personal vision of these tracks that have been heard a thousand times and covered a thousand times over the last 60 years. The most beautiful pieces are those where Florence’s voice is rounded rather than slender (particularly Dindi and Insensatez), which gives the impression that they are more urgent than the others.
And it’s a shame, but it has to be said: the duet between the singer and her daughter, who do Aguas de Março in a bilingual version (Portuguese, French) and then in French at the very end of the album, is the least successful track on the album. Florence K delivers a record of over-packaged romance here, perfectly in the expected tone, but just too understated to really stand out.
Excerpt from Dindi
Bossa Nova
Brazil, my love
Florence
Ad Literam / Spectra