Portuguese guitarist, composer and educator Ricardo Pinheiro is joined on this guitar/voice album by Theo Bleckmann and Monica Salmaso. Caruma (Pine Needle) gets its inspiration from the countryside of the magical Sinatra woods. All the songs are related to atmospheric, photographic and emotional substance drawn from connections with nature.
The opening track “Gratitude” is an interesting number with ethereal vocals over Pinheiro’s gentle guitar. The vocals provide a strange quality, with falsetto soaring as if to reflect the uplifting sense of nature surrounding, swaddling and caring. There is beauty and harmony here, which makes it feel all is as it should be.
“Cancao de Embaler a Isabel” has a guitar solo to begin with, and this is a reflective number with echoed strings creating a sense of space and the vocal line singing the lyrics in a gentle caress, speaking to “Isabel” in tentative tones. “Mar Picado” is a joyful dance of guitar and voice in an improvised number which uses harmonized voice to provide the backdrop for Ricardo Pinheiro’s guitar work. Retro and yet somehow new and unique, this number is full of intrigue and interest. The relentless rhythm set up from the start, prevails and against this the guitar solos with the voices acting as other instrumentation.
“Quando Nao Estiveres Aqui” is ethereal, with the voices again used as instrumentation over which Pinheiro’s guitar rises and falls away, the strung chords creating harmony and peace, communicating sonorously with the voice of Monica Salmaso to create a sound which stretches towards the divine and a sense of missing and longing. (The title means “when you are not here.”) “Ausencia” is introduced by Theo Bleckmann’s voice, expressive and note perfect, later reflecting the harmonics in the guitar backing. The number is lyrical and paints picturesque landscapes of tone and color. At times, the quality of the voice is so emotive that it pulls at the heart, as it soars and the guitar note placement fills the gaps perfectly.
“Caruma” is a beautiful number, evoking nature in many forms, from the soft, gentle caress of the opening to the beauty of the vocals when they enter half way through to create a very different second half of the number. “Sesta” is introduced with Ricardo Pinheiro’s soaring guitar solo before the voices introduce harmonic and disharmonic lines which reflect the changing ways of nature for the listener.
“Resina” closes Caruma and is an atmospheric number sprinkled with electronic sounds and spacey vocals. There is a darker tone which reflects nature in less serene mood, yet there is also a beauty in the harmonies and the loops provide a circling, endless sense of time standing still.
Ricardo Pinheiro’s new album is different, something quite unique – and the compositions create sonic landscapes, mostly of beauty and harmony. There is very little to indicate the darker sides of nature here, and this is one to sit back, take a break and enjoy. A spirituality invades the music and the listener senses the wonder which is felt while observing nature in the hallowed woods. The world is right, the music beautiful.
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