Alma

It’s hard to say why Carminho’s second effort seems a little pale alongside her debut, Fado from 2009. Perhaps the real trouble with Alma (Soul) is that it’s not possible for anyone to record a debut album twice. Keeping her fado firmly rooted in the most austere and pure tradition, Carminho delivers each track like she’s gained access to some essential truth about life that simply escapes the rest of us; a supernatural quality she seems to share only with the brilliant Aldina Duarte.

The laws of traditional fado demand an artist eventually tries the heavy and testing ‘Fado Menor’ – one of the three basic fado song modes, and the one which separates the great performers from the new batch of newcomers that blossom every other month. It’s something Carminho masters beautifully, especially given she is still only 27. But she’s just as effective when performing more light-hearted pieces as ‘Malva-Rosa’: it lacks none of Carminho’s untamed soul. This album may fall short of surprise if you’ve already heard her before. But it still is surprising to be reassured of how breathtaking she’s gotten to be.