Momento

1	Momento 5:16
2	Bring Back the Love / Brazilian Girls 4:29
3	Close to You 3:20
4	Os Novos Yorkinos 3:41
5	Azul 3:13
6	Caçada 4:34
7	Night and Day 4:57
8	Tranquilo / Orquestra Imperial 4:06
9	Um Segundo 3:12
10	Cadê Você? 3:32
11	Words 2:30

Barnes & Noble

Bossa nova singer Bebel Gilberto has always had an ambivalent relationship with the electronics that made her debut, Tanto Tempo, such a hit back in 2000. After all, it was the dance community that first latched on to her breathy Brazilian swing, bolstered by imaginative beats from the São Paulo DJ Suba. But Gilberto's heart, and indeed her pedigree, belongs to the acoustic: Her father is João Gilberto, the guitarist who virtually invented bossa nova in the '60s with Tom Jobim, and that's where her second disc, Bebel Gilberto, gravitated. Momento, then, is the happy medium. A cool blend of languid acoustic performances (check out her flawless version of "Night and Day") and dancefloor-friendly house ("Bring Back the Love" sounds like a future Body & Soul anthem), it strikes a graceful balance between two seemingly opposite poles. In fact, the plush grooves and heartbeat tempos might distract listeners from all the different styles that Bebel tries on. With "Caçada," a classic written by Gilberto's uncle, Chico Buarque, she delivers Brazilian pop; "Tranquilo" is a salsa number; "Os Novos Yorkinos" salutes all the expats in New York City over capoeira beats. With Bebel, as with her soul sister Sade, still waters run deep -- it's easy for all this gorgeousness to blend into one restful audio massage. But there's more than enough excitement for those who listen closely. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

On her self-titled 2004 sophomore album, Bebel Gilberto ditched the loungey grooves she explored on her debut and stuck to mostly acoustic elements -- guitars, percussion, strings -- to complement her voice, but her next release, Momento, finds the singer returning to both electronica and more traditional bossa nova. Gilberto is still, of course, thoroughly modern, with a much more lush, produced sound than her predecessors had (including her father), but it works for her, the overall gentle ambiance she's trying to create, even when she's singing old favorites. In Chico Buarque's lovely "Caçada," she adds more bass to the underbelly of the song and lets the woodwinds play a bigger role, and the cover of Cole Porter's "Night and Day" comes off well, gentle, and with a jazzy tenor sax solo. In fact, it's when Gilberto stays simple, and looks more closely at her roots for inspiration, that she sounds the best. It's her ventures into the Rio lounge world that are less interesting, safe to a fault. Gilberto's unfortunately perfected the Brazilian version of smooth jazz or adult contemporary, shown all too clearly on songs like "Cadê Você" or "Bring Back the Love" (which features all four members from the non-Brazilian Brazilian Girls), with their programmed drums and keyboards layered behind her voice. It's too much, too clean, too pretty, sounding nice but nothing more. To be fair, the singer has never tried nor claimed to be cutting-edge, or to challenge her audience, but tracks like "Close to You" and "Momento" are so inoffensive they're hard to pay much attention to. It's very possible to be both memorable and smooth, remarkable and mild (and this is something Gilberto is capable of, like on the sparse "Um Segundo" or the mellow "Os Novos Yorkinos," for example), but more often than not, Momento ends up a shallow listen. This CD was nominated for a Grammy award in 2007 for Best Contemporary World Music Album. Marisa Brown

Vibe

Gilberto's voice-smoky, velvety, infinitely sensuous...the more Gilberto's warm tone invokes Brazil's past, the more she shines.

Interview

On Momento, Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto does something we've been waiting for ever since her promising debut: she hits her stride-and wonderfully. Gilberto's jockeying between English and Portuguese feels fluid and inviting.