Nectar

Album Review

A year after her angelic voice graced ten of the 13 songs on Federico Aubele's Panamericana (2007), Natalia Clavier made her full-length solo debut with "Néctar," a stylistically similar album of downtempo likewise released by ESL Music, the label of Thievery Corporation. Produced by Aubele and Eric Hilton (the latter of Thievery Corporation), "Néctar" should delight anyone already fond of the bass-heavy and laid-back output of its producers. Clavier makes the album her own, however, regardless of its stylistic similarity to the output of Aubele and Thievery Corporation. She wrote all of the songs herself, except for an exquisite cover of Argentine folk legend Atahualpa Yupanqui's "Tu Que Puedes Vuélvete," and her voice is far and away the main attraction, no matter how intoxicating the underlying productions, which include trip-hop beats as well as traditional acoustic instrumentation such as violin, cello, piano, and Aubele's guitar. Clavier's songwriting takes the album in unique directions, most notably in the direction of tango on "Ay de Mí," "Confusión," and "Mi Mentira" — songs you wouldn't expect to hear on a typical Thievery Corporation album; songs so stately, perhaps only a native Argentine could write them. Even with the songwriting twists and turns, "Néctar" is a remarkably solid album that plays fluidly from beginning to end. While any number of songs could count as highlights, the opening track, "El Árbol," stands out as perhaps the most pleasantly reminiscent of Thievery Corporation, turntable scratching and all. "Azul," "No Volverá," and "Néctar" also stand out, along with the aforementioned mid-album tangos.