Portas is Brazilian singer/songwriter
Marisa Monte's first studio album in a decade and her
Sony debut. She recorded it during the pandemic between October 2020 and March 2021 on an intercontinental digital bridge connecting -- via Zoom -- Rio de Janeiro, New York, Los Angeles, Lisbon, Madrid, and Barcelona.
Monte and her band employed strict safety protocols, including outdoor songwriting sessions, temperature screenings, masking, and social distancing. She wrote, co-wrote, produced, and co-produced all but one of these 16 songs. The credits are populated with longtime and new collaborators including
Arto Lindsay,
Chico Brown, fellow
Tribalistas bandmate
Arnaldo Antunes,
Nando Reis,
Marcelo Camelo,
Dadi Carvalho,
Pretinho da Serrina,
Lucas and
Lucio Silva,
Seu Jorge, his daughter, vocalist
Flor de Maria, and
Pedro Baby. Strings and horns were recorded remotely and arranged by
Arthur Verocai and
Antonio Neves, respectively.
Portas arrives as Brazil continues to be ravaged by COVID-19 and its worst drought in a century.
Monte confronts it all head-on, asserting with compassion, empathy, and optimistic affirmation that humanity will not only endure, but emerge better. She uses metaphors inspired by the natural world to support and enhance her view of our redemption, and frames it in an enchanting musical palette that cuts across MPB, rock, samba, jazz, bossa, pop, and R&B.
The title cut was co-produced by
Lindsay, who appends
Monte's band with drummer
Kassa Overall and bassist
Melvin Gibbs. "Portas," written with
Antunes and
Carvalho, is a midtempo rocker. Its lyric juxtaposes personal choice with fate, weighing them with absolute equanimity.
Lindsay also co-produced "Calma," one of five tunes co-written with
Brown. By way of piano, brass, and strings, the classy arrangement frames
Monte's smooth yet earnest voice in articulating her anthemic lyric: "I'm already escaping the night/I'm not afraid of the dark/I know dawn is coming soon...." "A Lingua Dos Animas," co-written with
Antunes and
Carvalho, commences as a dreamy romantic pop song, but it quickly morphs into a fingerpopping MPB tune with punchy, bar-walking horns. Its lyric portrays nature as sibling to the human soul. "Vagalumes," penned with
Antunes, is a sultry, acoustic fado; its poetic lyric equates fireflies with personal and amorous transformation.
Monte delivers the song with absolute conviction. "Sal," co-authored by
Camelo, juxtaposes fireflies with the destiny of its protagonist lovers.
Brown and
Monte's "Fazendo Cena" begins as a waltz but evolves into a slippery rocker that stridently frames the universe as a shelter for an absent beloved. Closer "Pra Melhorar" is sung in trio with its co-writers,
Seu Jorge and
Flor. Soaring strings, MPB, samba, and R&B rhythms frame an infectious melody. The tender lyric confronts darkness with the rising sun, as the singers assert our hearts will ascend stronger, more tolerant, and more loving than before.
Monte's supreme skill as an artist renders
Portas a passageway to the possible. While she accepts disease, disaster, and pain as undeniable, her poetic and passionate response is one of militant hope. ~ Thom Jurek
