Marta Ren's retro-soul soundness transports us, right at the start, to a wh… Read Full Bio ↴Marta Ren's retro-soul soundness transports us, right at the start, to a whole universe of American soul that makes the opening of this note in English inevitable. There are 12 compositions (+ a wonderful extra) where the groove is a lady of all work that asks to stop, look and listen, where Marta's voice is the queen of a style that melts, which makes us warm to the rhythm of genuine soul who lives in your soul.

No. Marta is not a newcomer to these music issues. For more than 15 years he has been touring the music scene, first with the Sloppy Joe and then in the Bombazines where he has consolidated his exquisite old-school talent. And why old guard? Because what we hear here is undoubtedly an irreproachable album of the most classic soul, leading the specialized international critics to surrender, as by these Mutant bands, to the voice, music and image of Marta Ren in her longed for album of "Stop> Look> Listen": "A welcome addition to the upper echelon of the retro funk scene" Wax Poetics Magazine USA; "Porto's princess Marta Ren & The Groovelvets slams down her letter of intent with this brash, bristling and very exciting debut. Basically it's just what the doctor ordered! (...) her time is now! "Blues And-Soul Mag UK; "Outstanding album, big in 2016!" The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show BBC6, among many more.

The work comes to us with a presentation that is a sum of what it mirrors - "there is no Soul if there is no life. Full life. Highs and lows. Enthusiasm and disillusionment. Loves and betrayals. Life lived. And as Martha herself says in one of her great songs, it is not possible to give Soul body without an unshakable belief, a rapturous honesty and an attitude without limits ". Marta Ren is a voice in the lyric and voice that transports us to other times, with a heterogeneous set of original compositions that make us jump from the chair with a fast pace or move smoothly to the sound of the ballad. From Groove Funk's "Release Me" to the strength of the ballad "So Long", nothing leaves us indifferent to this (new) serious case of national music, a Martha who, without fear, warns that "I'm Not Your Regular Woman "(singular version of the obscure song of Lucille Mathis). And it is not. It is surprising and to have it in sight. "Summer'gone" and "2 Kind of Men", singles that have long filled our ears, were announcing what was going on and Marta Ren did not disappoint and did not disappoint. is only two-hit singles. It's an album that leaves us with "Smilling Faces", it's a strong work, in its entirety, that will make us talk today and beyond.

A warm, well-aged voice (or Ren did not sound like the great voices of American soul that marked the 1960s) that joins a very respectable and indispensable set of Grooves - Sérgio Marques (bass); Hugo Danin (drums); Bruno Macedo (guitar); Sérgio Alves (keyboards); Manu Idhra (percussion); Paulo Gravato (baritone saxophone); João Martins (saxophone tenor / alto saxophone); Rui Pedro Silva (trumpet); José Silva (trumpet) and João Sêco (trombone) - in an album full of groove, soul, funk, music that brings us to the times of genuinely created soul, with contemporary spices and a unique timbre.

No more needless verbiage, without saying what is obvious music to the song, "> Stop> Look> Listen" is a must have album. Marta Ren & The Groovelvets a sound to retain and not lose sight.