Mi Voz

Turkish singer Elif Sanchez’s 2021 debut featured jazzy settings of Turkish and Azerbaijani folk songs, with one song in Spanish tacked on the end. For her follow-up she’s gone whole hog on the Iberian tip. The album is overseen by Spanish musician and producer Javier Limón, who has also composed seven of the tracks, all with Spanish lyrics. Thankfully, this latest does away with the coffee table jazz instrumentation of her last effort, employing understated acoustic guitar and percussion to create delicate settings where her voice can be heard to best effect. It’s deliciously sultry with a trace of Turkish sadness, often flicking up into fleeting microtonal curlicues at the end of a line, like a flourish in handwritten script.

The best tracks – both covers – push the hybrid nature of the project even further. ‘Vuelve / Kurşun Adres Sormaz Ki’ is a duet with its composer, pop star and former Eurovision contestant Kenan Doğulu, who adds his sexy smoulder to an arrangement fusing beach bar cool with a brooding Anatolian sensibility. ‘Amanecer / Gel Ey Seher’ is a stripped-back Spanish-language take on Azerbaijani crooner Polad Bülbüloğhlu’s hit, with the sumptuous arabesque strings removed to reveal a fragile sense of longing.