About Land

Mira Pardelha's story starts in 1998 when Canadian musicians Jason Breckenridge and Ian Brimacombe were flatmates in Lisbon and first thought of connecting with the city through a set of songs and a series of collaborations with local artists. But life moved on and did not wait for them to round up the repertoire that would fit into that general concept. Sometimes time and distance can help solve creative blocks and that seems to have happened with Mira Pardelha. Two decades after their initial idea, Breckenridge and Brimacombe decided to revisit their memories of the city, summoning three Portuguese accomplices (including singer Benedita Barbosa) and a few other musicians from London, where they now live. But if you suspect that About Land sounds anything like a musical encounter between Portuguese and Canadian roots, guess again. Although it does hint at North American folk music, tracks like ‘Rosa dos Ventos’ or ‘Entre o Céu e o Chão’ are clearly well-crafted chamber indie pop, not unlike records by Tindersticks or The Walkabouts. And even though they also delightfully wallow in tropicália in the Mutantes-inspired ‘For Prester John’, About Land is a good record, but above all it completes a journey started over 20 years ago.