hortelã

"Hortelã" is the Portuguese word for mint - and it fits this album really well. Mariana Brito da Cruz Forjaz Secca, Maro for short, has a voice that has a cooling effect like the scent of mint, a timbre that is sometimes more breath than sound. People have known the 28-year-old songwriter and singer since she represented Portugal at the ESC last year with the song "Saudade". Her career is overseen by Quincy Jones' management, she toured with Jacob Collier and became known during the pandemic for her home sessions "Itsa me, Maro", where she made digital music with celebrities like Eric Clapton.

After a few English-language and rather poppy albums, Maro has now found her way to extreme reduction. Her almost exclusively Portuguese miniatures, hardly ever more than three minutes, are accompanied only by the two steel-string guitarists Darío Barroso and Pau Figueres. Many of the pieces have a contemplative character (such as the quietly breathing "Fui Passo Calculado"), now and then a little rumba or flamenco character enters ("Há-de Sarar", "Oxalá"). And an almost painfully intimate duet with Catalan colleague Sílvia Pérez Cruz ("Juro Que Vi Flores") is the highlight.

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