Elo

Four years after her last album, Samba Meu, Elis Regina's daughter (as she now allows herself to be called) returns with a new album. Well, kind of. Elo is made-up entirely of re-recordings of previously released material, put down in just ten days in the Toca do Bandido studios in Rio. A CD of re-recordings is the ultimate test of a singer's ability to showcase her art as an interpreter, and one would hope that Elo would demonstrate Maria Rita's vocal dexterity, understated dynamics and range. Sadly it rather does the opposite. Despite having had so long a rest, Maria Rita sounds tired. Her voice is strained on tracks like ‘Corao a Batucar’, Chico Buarque's ‘A Historia de Lilly Braun’ and the opener, an anaemic version of Lula Queiroga's ‘Conceio dos Coqueiros’.

She sounds like she's going through the motions throughout. Even her superb band fails to bring this CD to life. They do their best: there's some wonderful drumming from Cuca Teixeira, and delicately phrased and perfectly placed jazzy piano. Things nearly come together on tracks like ‘Menino do Rio’, when Maria Rita demonstrates some of the sweet tones and seductive crooning which earned her accolades for her first two albums. But by and large the CD is a disappointment. Her next release is said to be a re-working of material first recorded by her mother. Let's hope she rises to the challenge.