Na Estrada

Bel Air de Forro are a new France-based outfit, a trio of Brazilian singer Mariana Caetano, fellow Brazilian Marcelo Costa on percussion and Breton accordion player Yann Le Corre. Together they play traditional dance music from the north-east of Brazil, with forró largely being the rhythm of choice. The problem that arises whenever a group try to record music whose function is to get people moving is whether it can stretch to an album's worth of material. And this is where Bel Air de Forro come a cropper. Caetano is a spirited singer but her voice lacks power to give these tracks any heft, leaving Le Corre's hyperactive accordion as the principal sound. With few dynamic detours, listening to Na Estrada can feel like being trapped in an endless accordion loop.

When the group change things a little, switching to the frevo rhythm for ‘Frevo Mulher’ with a great see-sawing riff and bags of energy, or the short but sinister lick of ‘Amassando o Barro’, things improve. But there are too few diversions such as these on Na Estrada. Though clearly confident players and forró devotees, Bel Air de Forro fail to give the music enough soul to elevate it above being simply a rhythm to dance to.