(2023) Nico Paulo - Nico Paulo    


Review:
Sometimes all it takes is a note or two, and you’re hooked; such is the case with Nico Paulo’s self-titled debut. Rarely has an album captured the dual culture of an artist as this debut has done for this Canadian-born, Portuguese-raised singer-songwriter. Quite often, both sides of her character appear on the same track, creating a most intriguing blend of cultures and characteristics. Using the sounds of Portugal and Canada, she has created a hybrid existing in a space all its own. The opening gambit, “Intro/Dream”, features one Paulo singing a series of ascending and descending wordless notes while the other is lost in a dreamworld. Soft focus guitar combines with keyboards to create a state of not quite waking, not quite asleep, yet within that state, we begin a voyage of discovery into what makes Nico Paulo tick. The cross-cultural musical bed of “Time” combines the Portuguese aesthetic with a shimmering, bouncy edge that belies lyrics examining how two people can view the same word very differently. “Have you ever thought of dancing/ Feeling time/ Have you ever thought of dancing/ As swimming with the tide.” The synthetic strings opening “The Master” lead into a full-bodied song replete with fuzzy guitar and multiple Paulo’s singing, then falls back into the mist before rebuilding. What Paulo sings is intriguing, to say the least: “How come you never get mad?/ Put your feelings outside/ How come you never get angry?/ How come you never get sad?” In those moments, one realizes there are more questions than answers. Questions are also at the heart of “Now or Never.” The strains of a single guitar, finally joined by bass, then synths and a chorus of harmonizing Paulos exist while her main voice asks, “Is it now or never/ Hold me close or let me go/ I just want to feel your love again/ I just want to feel the love again and again.” Paulo admits one line of the song, “Kiss me now or never, hold me close or let me go,” has been a constant companion. “This line has haunted me for almost a decade and recent experiences of loss and reconstructing of the self, helped me to finally transform it into a song.” The final track on the album, “Read My Mind,” is, in many ways, reminiscent of Sandy Denny’s “Who Knows Where the Time Goes.” There’s a feel to the song that’s hard to disregard. Instead of singing about the march of time, this song is about a lover that knows another’s mind too well. The longer the song goes, the jazzier the interplay becomes. Nico Paulo’s voice and songs strike chords that are impossible to ignore. She goes places that have not been traversed, creating music in a genre all her own. This is merely the beginning of what will hopefully be a long amd productive journey. — folkradio.co.uk


   


Track List:
01 - Intro, Dream
02 - Time
03 - Amor Amor Amor
04 - The Master
05 - Now or Never
06 - Learning My Ways
07 - Lock Me Inside
08 - Lovers in the Street
09 - Hand Kisser
10 - Read My Mind


Media Report:
Genre: indie-folk
Country: St. John'S, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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