O Método

Since he left Madredeus in 1994, Rodrigo Leão has established himself as a masterful songwriter, working on a sort of chamber pop that brings together the influences of Michael Nyman, Yann Tiersen and Ryuichi Sakamoto with guest collaborators from the worlds of folk, trip-hop or pop-rock. At first, Leão worked mostly within a neo-classical context, but as time went by he abandoned this, welcoming a looser approach to songwriting. That paid to when Leão summoned the exquisite voices of Beth Gibbons, Adriana Calcanhotto, Stuart Staples, Neil Hannon or Lula Pena, fine accomplices that helped him bring ethereal songs to a steadier ground.

Leão's new studio album builds on that legacy, although it feeds on a new strand of composers, such as Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds and Max Richter, exploring a subtle use of electronics without compromising the style. While it is probably less ambitious than some of his previous efforts, it does hit the spot on a couple of quite simple and entrancing songs such as the lullaby-like ‘A Bailarina’, the celestial ‘Red Poem’ or the spiritual ambient pop of ‘O Cigarro’. The album does not always live up to these highlights, but it's probably the first step in a new direction.