Review
A Flutter and Some Words is the combined effort of Chavez and Italian composer Lorenzo Scopelliti, who initially sent Chavez a composition a couple years back, which kick-started their collaborative song-writing process. Much of this album was pieced unhurriedly together, mostly over the Internet, with the two artists emailing their contributions back and forth between the US and Italy. This transatlantic exchange is apparent on the album; there is strain of European jazz that underscores the music. This influence in particular is what expunges all preconceptions that might exist in lieu of Chavez s dance-pop flirtations of yore. Given that many of the songs on this album are working within the structures of jazz (though not exclusively), the more confining borders of the pop format are removed, allowing Chavez to invite more space into her designs and experiment freely with other sonic textures. It also allows her voice, cool and clear like fresh water, to breathe easier in the airy spaces of the music. In fact, Flutter is all about spaces, both private and open, yielding to an array of live instruments (brass, woodwinds, and strings). These sounds collide and ribbon around the centre from which the singer s voice emanates, but they never threaten to overtake it. The album, in addition, is mainly devoid of the dance beats that featured heavily on her debut, excepting first single By the Water , a delicate, crisp hip-hop number sparsely coloured by the soft cries of a trumpet and the digital ripples of a synthesizer. What really opens up Flutter, in fact, are the far more expansive numbers that show off Chavez s growth as a songwriter. In Mine , a lone violin threads its way through the meditative, circular guitar lines and swirls in the rhythm of some lightly tapped percussion. It works to create a sense of solitude and resignation, sentiments that are echoed in other tracks like the heavy heart of No Goodbyes , made heavier by the contemplative, forceful strokes of a piano and found-sound samples of falling pennies (perhaps from heaven?). There is also a suggestion of other musical flavours that factor into the sonic mix; the title track appropriates a classic jazz riff by way of an electronic beat and harkens back to the days of fossa, the smoky nightclub take on 50s Brazilian jazz that was made popular by the likes of Maysa Matarazzo and Nora Ney. Trading in standard jazz fingerings for treated woodwinds and sly snatches of DJ scratching, the song still retains the lush romanticism that fossa is noted for while being performed from a contemporary standpoint. --Pop Matters Review By Imran Khan
Product Description
A Flutter And Some Words is Ingrid Chavez s long awaited full-length album, the follow-up to her debut album May 19, 1992 released on Paisley Park Records, Warner Bros / Wea. 14 spellbinding glimpses into the soul of a uniquely gifted woman and includes the first single By The Water which has an accompanying video and short film, Produced and Directed by Lorenzo Scopelliti, which will premier world-wide. An intimate portrait about the birth and creative process of this extraordinary album and features music from the album as a soundtrack interweaved and beautifully narrated by Ingrid Chavez.
, recommendations and new releases on SoundUnwound 
