Do Claro ao Breu

Sopa de Pedra are a Portuguese vocal ten-piece that got together ten years ago – which some may know already be familiar with after last year’s WOMEX opening concert in Porto, their hometown. Working around traditional melodies, they released their first album in 2017, Ao Longe Já se Ouvia, where they sang a couple of tracks by the exceptional Amélia Muge. Muge has been working for several years on her own music, artistically owing as much to José Afonso and José Mário Branco as to Laurie Anderson and Meredith Monk.

Even though Sopa de Pedra’s debut album was a beautiful effort, it precisely lacked the boldness of Muge’s works in its arrangements. Now, with their sophomore recording made of old compositions created in collaboration with choreographer José Artur Campos and the arts collective Oficina Arara, that is no longer an issue. Released as a vinyl edition, Do Claro ao Breu (From Brightness to Darkness) is split in a beautiful and luminous composition that takes over its A-side (based on Eugénio de Andrade’s poems and melodically indebted to Muge), and the exploration of obscure and sinister fears and popular characters, while furthering their experimental reach, on its B-side. And it is as dazzling and brilliant slowly transforming melodies in ‘Claro I’ as it is when it surrounds us with circular and chilling voices (in ‘Breu – IV’), both wild and inventive (‘Breu – VI’), always making us complicit in this ritualistic gathering they manage to build up, cascading their voices. Do Claro ao Breu is a stunning record that finally expands Sopa de Pedra to their full potential.