Lina_Raül Refree - Lina_Raül Refree

2020 release

Fado rewired and recast.

Raül Refree - one of Europe's most innovative producers (Rosalía, Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo) - meets Lina, a Portuguese singer renowned for her haunting interpretations of Amalia's classic repertoire. Analog synths and hushed sonics. Making history by breaking the rules. Shedding the skin. A fresh beginning.

That's what singer Lina and producer/multi-instrumentalist Raül Refree have given Portuguese fado on Lina_Raül Refree. They've sloughed off the old trappings and exacting traditions of the country's national music and given it into a perfect fit for the 21st century. Gone are the chiming guitars that were the music's instrumental trademark, and in their place comes piano and analog synths.

Lina has a deep background in the music; her family has sung it for two generations and she took it up when she was 15, studied opera and turned to the stage, where she portrayed fado's great queen, Amália Rodrigues, before being invited to become a regular at Lisbon's iconic Clube de Fado. Raül Refree has been widely-praised for his solo work, like the album La Otra Mitad (GB 065CD/LP, 2018), as well as his ground-breaking productions; he'd collaborated with the flamenco incendiary Rosalía on her Los Angeles album (2017), the disc that first made her name.

Lina chose the songs, fado classics associated with Amália Rodrigues. It was material she knew and loved deeply. Not being a part of the tradition, Refree was unfamiliar with the originals. That helped him and allowed him to come to the music without the weight of history. Beginning in May 2018, over the course of three sessions, they let the sound take shape. In the world they created, the music embraces and captures the listener via the time-honored songs, the minimalist textures and Lina's performances - so full of bittersweet hope.

Yet there are also some delicious, unexpected moments that add to the majesty, like Lina, multi-tracked, rising out of the mix like a choir on "Barco Negro," or the fragile, quivering of piano notes that take wing on "Gaivota." Throughout, Refree's arrangements are quietly subtle, the analog synths and ambience very sparingly used to keep the voice very much at the heart of everything. It's a perfect balance; the instruments are a frame for Lina as she explores every nuance of sorrow and fleeting joy, feeling every word she sings at the core of her being.