Fresh from a six year hiatus taken to devote herself to motherhood and spend some necessary time away from both the recording studio and the din of urban living, revered Brazilian singer, songwriter and virtuosic guitarist Badi Assad returns reinvigorated with Between Love and Luck, her first release since 2006. Assad bounces seamlessly between Portuguese and English through lyrics touching on everything from the concrete themes of nine-to-five monotony, strained relationships and her own roots, to topics and musings far more whimsical and upbeat.
The album's sound is similarly wide-ranging, with cuts like the brisk, funk-tinged opener "Ultraleve," delicate and rootsy "Noite de São João" and revolving "Quarto da Rainha" offering a playful balance to the comparatively fiery "Mulheres e Cunhantãs" and "Spicy Moments," which wind down the set. All of this unfurls as Assad's remarkably nimble, commanding vocals dance around the disc's eclectic compositions — playfully at first, more intensely as things progress — displaying with each song the many passionate and reflective fruits of her time away.
(Quatro Ventos)The album's sound is similarly wide-ranging, with cuts like the brisk, funk-tinged opener "Ultraleve," delicate and rootsy "Noite de São João" and revolving "Quarto da Rainha" offering a playful balance to the comparatively fiery "Mulheres e Cunhantãs" and "Spicy Moments," which wind down the set. All of this unfurls as Assad's remarkably nimble, commanding vocals dance around the disc's eclectic compositions — playfully at first, more intensely as things progress — displaying with each song the many passionate and reflective fruits of her time away.