Dom La Nena, the stage name of Brazilian cellist Dominique Pinto, means “Dom the Little Girl”, an allusion to Pinto’s time as a child prodigy. Born in Brazil, she spent her teenage years studying cello in Buenos Aires with the renowned Christine Walevska before a pop apprenticeship backing Jane Birkin. La Nena’s debut, 2013’s Ela, announced a distinctive talent, comfortable hopping between genres and languages (Portuguese, Spanish, French), understated but captivating, a one-off. Except, that is, when she’s alongside Moriarty’s Rosemary Standley as vocal duo Birds on a Wire, covering songwriters such as Leonard Cohen and Gilberto Gil.
Now 31, La Nena’s singing retains its youthful charm, alternately dreamy and lark-like. This third album takes on the weighty subject of time with winning lightheartedness (few of its songs exceed three minutes), skipping between styles: a jaunty waltz for Valsa, sighing chamber-samba for Samba Para Você. Todo Tiene Su Fin (All Things Must Pass) fears what time will do to her ravaged homeland, soaring against an almost doo-wop coda (“Before everyone is gone/ All I ask is love”). La Nena’s cello sings too, while she precisely orchestrates knocks, piano flourishes, bells and vocal parts. An enchantment.
