Words by Justin Turford
You’re ready when you’re ready in life, never before. It’s taken until after his fortieth birthday for the Salvador de Bahia singer-songwriter Dorea to release only his second album (he released his debut album ‘Grande Coisa’ in 2023 on the same Swedish label) and as laidback and positive as the record sounds, there is a maturity and earned weariness to it that could only come from having lived a life. Translated as ‘What else do you want to know about me?’ Dorea's gentle folk-rock compositions twist and turn with surprising chord progressions and a subtle boldness, his sweetly shy voice a friend in the dark.
Bahia is the more Africanised region of Brazil and sits in the Northeast of the country and is where many of the key members of the Tropicália movement (Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa) hailed from. Aside from his obvious nods to Veloso, it is another legend from the Southeastern state of Minas Gerais that supercharged his return to making music after many years of doing non-creative jobs - Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges’ 1972 masterpiece ‘Clube da Esquina’ was the key to unlocking Dorea’s potential. One can hear elements from that quietly revolutionary record - a gentle nod to the Baroque and a touch of psychedelia alongside the folk and rock foundations.
“Clube da Esquina supported me in exploring my instrument, my melodies and harmonies - in my own way, without constraints or theoretical foundations. All the songs I released and am releasing now on record were composed after I discovered Clube da Esquina”
Photo by Jamille Costa
The confessional title track and the opener on the album contains a big dollop of Clube de Esquina’s folk-baroque flavouring with its ornate and airy arrangement of picked acoustic guitar and Joana Queiroz’s bass clarinet a softly dramatic counterpoint to Dorea’s hushed contemplation of his own lack of self-knowledge. The production and mix from Sebastian Notini (who contributes heavily to the record) is beautifully widescreen considering the intimacy of the performance.
The quietly funky ‘Maria Milhões’ picks up the pace (a bit) with a wickedly catchy guitar riff that sounds a little grunge or a tad late-Beatles, laidback drums (from Notini) and a poetically opaque vocal about “Maria in the sea”, its swirling melody leading to a lovely repeated chorus that is pure Brazil.
One of the standout songs on the album, ‘Mais Que Dois’ splits between a wistful, lovelorn first half that is near jazz in its light swing before the song develops into a sublime circular groove that you really don’t want to end, Dorea’s precise and pining falsetto breaking out into a sleepy, meditative chorus, Quieroz’s weaving clarinets as important to the recording as the celestial string arrangements were to Nick Drake’s classic album ‘Five Leaves Left’.
Anchored by Junix’s angular and bluesy electric guitar riff, ‘Essa Pressa’ rocks with a shanty-esque bite, a rhythmic nod perhaps to his life directly next to the sea. Dorea’s gentle voicing and the peaceful interludes that make up the middle eights halts the song’s potential to hit gnarly Tom Waits territory but it still retains an unexpected coolness.
The outlier on the album is the tripped out psychedelic rocker ‘Até Que Seque’, a bluesy stomp with warped guitar and keyboards and Dorea at his least restrained. It’s a shame this version isn’t longer as I’d love to hear him really let loose.
Returning to his acoustic guitar and ornamented horns safe space, ‘Quatro Ventos’ is a short poem given a musical backdrop - the kind of thing Brazilians love and who even have popular national competitions in celebration of this particular artistry.
As chilled as anything on the record, ‘Sem Ancorar’ is also the only duet. A regular collaborator in the Outras Vozes collective that they both contribute to and a personal friend, singer Luiza Britto is a perfect tonal counterpoint and emotional comrade on this delicate observational composition. The video (below) certainly captures its somnambulant beauty.
The little creatures of ‘Pequenas Criaturas’ appear to have inspired a more expansive instrumental palette. The sections of the song where shimmering keyboards, percussion and tightly played guitar parts are blended together are quite brilliant and I’d like to see more of it.
‘Meu Lugar’ is Dorea at peak troubadour. Poetry, sadness, the life of a singer, the nature that blesses him. All within three minutes of subdued voice, guitar and clarinet accompaniment.
Canto pra subir montanha
Ou pra desbravar o mar
Mas eu sei, não é pra mim
O ar que resta a respirar
I sing to climb mountains
Or explore the seas
But I know, it’s not for me
The air left to breathe
An anti-city life lament, ‘A Cidade’ contains all of the saudade that one can take. Quieroz’s undulating clarinet acts as a second narrator to Dorea’s heartfelt vocals, like introverts weeping together.
Bookended with the sound of kids in a schoolyard (or is it seagulls?), the lovely ‘A Pé No Deserto’ is stripped back to Dorea’s breathy voice and finely picked acoustic guitar, its calming feeling shadowed by a lyric that swings from positive to negative in each couplet. A contradiction that permeates the his songwriting throughout.
Brightly coloured yet with a melancholy that hovers like storm clouds off the coast, Dorea’s second solo album has a poetic beauty that could only come from Brazil. The Salvador de Bahian troubadour may be deeply inspired by the musical expansiveness of Clube de Esquinha but these are his songs, personal and as deeply felt as they are superbly rendered. 9/10.
BUY HERE! https://doreadorea.bandcamp.com/album/o-que-mais-voc-quer-saber-de-mim