Toquei no Sol is Marlene Ribeiro‘s first solo debut release for Rocket Recordings and the first album under her own name. While Ribeiro has a long history in experimental music that includes work as Negra Branca and as a member of Manchester’s Gnod collective, her latest album is something entirely different. Her label called it her most melodic and transcendent outing yet for her hypnotic dreampop.
A sense of place is scattered across its six tracks – sounds from various locations feature, from the percussive pots and pans found in her Salford kitchen to found objects echoing from a garden in Ireland. One track I was continually drawn back to was the opening Quatro Palavras.
Quatro Palavras opens to a field recording, wind, birds, and footsteps before we hear the comforting singing voice of Emilia, Ribeiro’s grandmother, alongside the sounds of her kitchen in Portugal. It was a visit to her grandmother’s that spawned this project.
“Emilia ended up getting excited about me being able to record things there and then and – total news to me – told me she used to sing a lot when she was younger to the point of getting offered studio time but refusing it as she was fearful of what that could imply in those times” relates Marlene “From that point I planned to include her in this record as sort of the chance she never had of getting her voice out there.”
After we hear Emilia’s singing, Ribeiro takes the listener on a mesmerising sound journey in which you happily lose yourself. Quatro Palavras is also our Song of the Day.
Toquei no Sol is out now. Order via Bandcamp.