Hibernian frost and American heat

Just once in a while an album arrives in unexpected fashion and you hear a new original voice. It's rare to encounter music from Ecuador in the UK from a South American woman composing her own songs based on popular Latin styles. And possibly even rarer from a woman who, as the title of her album Todo Transito (Everything in Movement) suggests, divides her time between the tropical coast of Esmereldas, Ecuador and the much cooler climes of Inverness, Scotland.

Tenorio has conjured up ten songs that have a local, fresh feel to them, marrying a shapely, mature, rich voice to the gamut of moods associated with love. The rhythms are varied, the melodies catchy, the words poetic and reflective, and the arrangements unusual. There's nothing over-produced here; rather, each song has been approached as a short story in a collection, which makes for an album with flow and emotional coherence.

It kicks off in serenading style, moves to piano and guitar for a sensual dreamlike tale, then presses on into bittersweet lullabies, American-Indian rhythms, slow waltz like boleros and some zingier tracks. It encompasses celebration and yearning, wistfulness and nostalgia, via Andean Latin and South American melodies. These songs of life and love have poignant undercurrents but no unnecessary drama; they are utterly convincing. In a parallel career, Tenorio designs couture and it's vision, attention to beauty and fine details that hallmarks her music.

Jan Fairley

☆☆☆☆