Rodrigo Leão

★★★★

A Estranha Beleza Da Vida BMG/MODERN. CD/DL/LP

Sepia-tinged mood-casting from seasoned Portuguese composer.

A celebrated, Yann Tiersenlike figure in Portugal, Rodrigo Leão is more widely known as co-founder of fado folk ensemble Madredeus, featured protagonists in Wim Wenders’ 1994 movie, Lisbon Story. An accomplished, Morricone-indebted soundtrack creator and multi-instrumentalist, Leão’s previous albums have featured guest vocals from such as Beth Gibbons and Neil Hannon. Here, Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner lends whispered drollery to the smooching Who Can Resist, equal parts French chanson and Noel Coward recitative (Bryan Ferry should cover it), while the Roy Orbison-like Friend Of A Friend’s pizzicato strings and nonchalant pianos frame Canadian singer-songwriter Michelle Gurevich’s smoky intimacies (“Forbidden fruit, always in season”). Elsewhere, A Estranha Beleza Da Vida (‘the strange beauty of life’) proffers a seductive miscellany of aching, Cinema Paradiso-like études for string quartet, tango accordion, even ambient keyboards, all of it glowing with a warm, candlelit poignancy.