After her intimate 2003 debut, Maria Rita’s music has often been delivered with an unnerving level of precision that belies her carefree vocals. Desse Jeito returns to the same tidiness, but with as much personality as the singer has ever shown. There’s a slight fracture in Rita’s voice, singed with emotion, that paves a deeper route for her songwriting. The music is serious—its tone is weighty—but the spirited tempo and frisky drums cleverly channel the tracks away from stern severity. Maria Rita involves her quirky inflections, more heavily-pronounced than her mother, (one Elis Regina) and embraces a tendency to quiver while simultaneously exercising real strength.
23/30
A favourite: ‘Desse Jeito’
‘Desse Jeito’ is out now via Som Livre.
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