With her first three albums, charting Spanish musician
Solea Morente
traversed the sounds of indie rock, traditional and new flamenco, experimental indie electronica, and pop before ultimately changing direction again on her fourth LP,
Aurora y Enrique
. Her most personal and pensive set of songs to date, it's partly a tribute to her parents, dancer/actress
Aurora Carbonell
and late flamenco singer/songwriter
Enrique Morente
. (The cover design features an on-stage snapshot of the couple.) A singer/songwriter album at heart, its instrumentation and hints of dream pop and post-punk are credited to producer
Manuel Cabezali
and brought to life with help from keyboardist/backing vocalist
Nieves Lazaro
, drummer/percussionist
Juan Manuel Padilla
, and guests including
Solea
's older sister, flamenco singer
Estrella Morente
. The track list opens in intimate fashion with the brief, fingerpicked acoustic guitar lament "Aurora" ("Yo me rindo a ti/Enrique del alma mia" -- in English, "I surrender to you/Enrique of my soul").
Estrella
surfaces later on the more expansive "El PanÌ?uelo de Estrella," a flamenco-synth pop hybrid about a couple's first meeting involving a memorable handkerchief. The still lusher "Domingos" features Spanish noise rock group
Triangulo de Amor Bizarro
for the album's most unsettled and explicitly post-punk entry, though its 16th-note pulse, buzzy synths, and angular vocals by
Morente
never abandon the record's ruminative qualities. That song is followed by the softer "Iba A Decírtelo" ("I Was Going to Tell You"), about unspoken affection. The brighter concert remembrance "Marcelo Criminal" -- featuring indie pop artist
Marcelo Criminal
-- is another minor diversion from a wistful collection that continually returns focus to flamenco guitar. After opening with "Aurora," the album closes with "Enrique," a lingering piano-and-drone outro that effectively leaves listeners lost in thought. ~ Marcy Donelson