Camila Meza

Jan 31 2020

Best of 2019 #17: Camila Meza & the Nectar Orchestra – “Ámbar”

 

The surprising thing about Camila Meza and her new recording Ámbar is that this really shouldn’t be that surprising.  And yet, it is.  In fact, it’s stunning.  The vocalist-guitarist made a huge impression with her contributions to Ryan Keberle’s Azul Infinito and Fabian Almazan’s Alcanza, her voice shining like a sun at the center of all things.  And she was a light who illuminated every other musician on the recording as brightly as she herself, and made it inconsequential who belonged to the orbit of the other.  That ability to be at the center of things while equally and inextricably connected to every other element of the music is an enviable balance for a vocalist to strike.  Her own recording, the 2016 Traces on Sunnyside Records, further displayed Meza’s talent for an arresting delivery that makes one snap to attention while also conveying a soothing comfort.

But even here, Ámbar seems like a plateau achieved more audacious than anything reasonably anticipated for her next recording.  The strings arrangements of her Nectar Orchestra melt into the firm embrace of both jazz ensemble and Chilean folk, except during those passages where the strings say to hell with staying grounded in rhythmic patterns, let’s go soaring.  This is an album of many great proclamations and big statements, yet never seems far removed from a poignant melody and soft touch.  Inspired renditions of songs by Elliot Smith, Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays, Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes, and Milton Nascimento snap right into place with Meza originals, and come off sounding like they’d all been meant for this project on exactly this very day.  It’s one of the very best recordings of 2019, and, in the context of Meza’s recording career, it wholly decimates all measures of what could and should be expected next from her.

Your album personnel:  Camila Meza (vocal, acoustic & electric guitars); Eden Ladin (piano, juno, celesta, keyboards), Noam Wiesenberg (bass, arrangements), Keita Ogawa (drums, percussion), Tomoko Omura (violin), Fung Chern Hwei (violin), Benjamin von Gutzeit (viola), and Brian Sanders (cello).

The Self-Produced album was released on Sony Masterworks.

Music from New York City.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Amazon

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Jan 13 2020

These are videos that I like: Camila Meza and “Waltz No 1”

 

Some musicians just aren’t easy to cover.  Some immeasurable synergy of distinctive sound, personal aesthetics, and singular gravitas makes it nearly an insurmountable task at honoring an original song by these musicians while simultaneously making the song anew.  Elliot Smith was one such musician.  Not unlike his predecessor and equally depressive songster Nick Drake, Smith brought a tunefulness to a state of sadness like being able to whistle the melody to your own funeral’s soundtrack.

Camila Meza is a ridiculous talent, as vocalist and as composer-arranger, and that she is able to create an inspired rendition of Eliot Smith’s “Waltz No 1,” with her Nectar Orchestra no less, is Exhibit A for proof of that talent.  Here’s the official video of that song, which appears on her 2019 release Ámbar.

You will be reading more about Ámbar in the upcoming Best of 2019 reveal.

In the meantime, if you can’t wait to buy the album so that you can hear the whole thing, Amazon is waiting for you.  I wouldn’t blame you.  It’s a gorgeous recording.  You should go buy it right now.

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