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Music Review: 'Soyo' By Dom La Nena

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Singer and cellist Dominique Pinto has moved around a lot in her 24 years. She's better known as Dom La Nena. She was born in Brazil, grew up in Paris and studied classical music as a teenager in Buenos Aires. She's also been touring the world since turning 18. Reviewer Tom Moon says that sense of perpetual motion informs her second album called "Soyo."

TOM MOON, BYLINE: What happens if you travel a lot - like, almost constantly? Maybe you write a song like this, which opens Dom La Nena's second album.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LA NENA SOY YO")

DOM LA NENA: (Singing in foreign language).

MOON: She's talking about herself using her nickname, La Nena, or the little one. The vibe is carefree, but there's melancholy in there, too. It's like she's reminding herself of who she used to be before all the touring. On the next song, she says she has no home. On another, she confesses that she just can't relax because she's always worried about the next departure.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LLEGARE")

DOM LA NENA: (Singing in foreign language).

MOON: Dom La Nena wrote these songs while touring for her first record, a brooding set that came out in 2013. She was traveling alone for nearly two years. And that involved lots of waiting around in empty venues for sound checks as well as airports and train stations. It's easy to imagine her in the bustle of some terminal, humming these little drifter lullabies to herself.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JUSTE UNE CHANSON")

DOM LA NENA: (Singing in foreign language).

MOON: She starts that one singing in Spanish, then slides into French for the refrain.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JUSTE UNE CHANSON")

DOM LA NENA: (Singing in foreign language).

MOON: That's a clue about Dom La Nena's approach. She's a collage artist, swirling together ideas she picked up on the road, changing languages on a whim. At the same time, she stays true to the roots of her native Brazil. Her music moves with the effortless grace old time samba. But she's not holding on too tightly to anything because as every traveler knows, the baggage can slow you down.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MENINO")

DOM LA NENA: (Singing in foreign language).

SIEGEL: Dom La Nena's second release is called "Soyo." Our reviewer is Tom Moon. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Tom Moon
Tom Moon has been writing about pop, rock, jazz, blues, hip-hop and the music of the world since 1983.