Dora Morelenbaum 'Pique' LP

Pique is the sensational debut solo album from Dora Morelenbaum, one of the key talents spearheading Brazil's new musical wave. A member of the Latin Grammy award-winning band, Bala Desejo , Dora showcases a new side to her solo productions on this special LP. Whereas Dora's first solo EP, Vento de Beirada, was a leap of faith, Pique sees her soaring as one of Brazil's standout stars, emboldened, emphatic but ever elegant. Building bridges between past and present, it's a funkier, more groove- based affair, weaved together with those signature, slower, celestial tracks.

Touching on disco, MPB, soul, R&B and jazz , the album is enriched with an indie pop aesthetic courtesy of fellow Brazilian star and co-producer, Ana Frango Eletrico. With an ethereal, enveloping air few can match, Dora's gift shines through both the serene and the spirited songs contained within. The blissful, sun-soaked 'Nao Vou Te Esquecer' opens, before the funk-fuelled, feel- good 'Venha Comigo' and 'Sim, Nao.' give a glimpse of the creativity bursting from the production partnership between Dora and Ana Frango Eletrico. Elsewhere, the album reclines into hazy lean-back realms via 'A Melhor Saida' and 'Petricor', virtuoso jazz funk in the form of 'VW Blue' and radiant MPB through the album's title track 'Pique'. The drumming is tight, fresh and swung, the horns and strings deftly arranged, as funk-driven basslines and strutting guitars mesh with playful production touches that give an added vibrancy to the record. It is an album that exhibits every side of Dora and one she has been involved in from the ground up, from the songwriting, singing, arrangement and production to booking the studio time and sourcing the artwork designer, Maria Cau Levy.