SPAIN – Pastora Soler has recently released her new album; “Conóceme”, her first album release since 2011 and her first major input back into music since her 2012 Eurovision song “Quedate Conmigo”.
The album recorded in both Stockholm and Madrid has been produced by Tony Sanchez Ohlsson, a man with a long association with TVE and Eurovision. The album includes 11 songs, all of them bearing the Pastora Soler signature, strong vocals and a melodic piece. It seems a big departure from her Flamenco days but it is clear in the album that Pastora is still very much a lyric based singer.
The notable song in this album is the hit single “Te despertaré” which makes full use of the ability of Pastora to focus her vocals at key intervals of the melody. Another song for consideration is “No me rendiré”, a strong club song which has less abbrassiveness than “Vive”, another song in the same mold.
Within the album, the title track “Conóceme” is a slow ballad with strong vocal input in the chorus line and would easily make for a good soundtrack but is also overshadowed by the both “Te despertaré” and “Madre” which evoked a strong emotional bond with the listener. The other songs which make up the album change in direction. “Espérame”, “Cambiando” and “Si vuelvo a empezar” are slow buildup ballads leading to a high crescendo notable in its chorus lines. “Fuimos”, “Pasa la Vida” and “Te voy a recordar así” make up the remaining songs in the album and although nice songs, they won’t be hard to forget.
Editor’s View
In summary a nice album which will go well with any Pastora Soler fan and has a few songs that will happily receive airplay in multiple bars without much grumbling but the departure in style does not appear to fit all that well in this album and the touch of Tony Sanchez Ohlsson and RedOne, who also collaborated in the album does not appear all that magical.