Heart of darkness

Description

Le label ACT has allowed several female singers to take flight and embrace an international career. Viktoria Tolstoy, Rigmor Gustaffson, Ida Sand, or of course Youn Sun Nah. At 31, Natalia Mateo joins the roster of the Munich label and reveals a versatile talent. Born in Poland, she grew up in Austria and now lives in Germany. Her musical identity has been built by drawing from Slavic folklore, American jazz, and the pop/rock corpus of songwriters such as Joni Mitchell or Amy Macdonald. Her album is eminently personal, balancing fidelity to tradition and exploration of some of the great themes of modern existence: depth and impermanence of interpersonal relationships, beauty of attachment bonds, independence. A singer who cultivates the art of ambivalence, between vulnerability and assurance, mystery and obviousness, shadow and light, clarity and uncertainty. Today little known to the general public, this album should propel Natalia Mateo to the forefront and captivate fans of original female vocal jazz that carves its path off the beaten track. A beautiful discovery.