Aurora Y Enrique

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 album, Aurora y Enrique. Her most personal and pensive set of songs to date, its 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 Soleas 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 Pañuelo de Estrella," a flamenco-synth pop hybrid about a couples first meeting involving a memorable handkerchief. The still lusher "Domingos" features Spanish noise rock group Triangulo de Amor Bizarro for the albums most unsettled and explicitly post-punk entry, though its sixteenth-note pulse, buzzy synths, and angular vocals by Morente never abandon the albums 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