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Since her debut in 2002, Natalia Lafourcade has embarked on a wildly creative, seldom predictable, and richly rewarding musical career. Blessed with both a powerful voice and a clear reverence for the depth and range of Mexican music past and present, Lafourcade has consistently blurred the lines between tradition, pop culture, and adventurous iconoclasm. Coming off the heels of two remarkable albums (Musas, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, 2017 and 2018, respectively) that combined covers of Latin American folk and pop standards from the mid-20th century with Lafourcade's original songwriting and the acoustic sounds of guitar duo Los Macorinos, as well as a breakthrough with English-speaking audiences thanks to a duet with Miguel on the Coco soundtrack's "Remember Me," her announcement in 2018 that she was going to take a hiatus from performing was somewhat surprising. That break was short-lived, and in early 2019 she announced a new musical project conceptually complementary to the two Musas albums: a live concert of mid-century Mexican classics, combined with new and old original material by Lafourcade done in a similar style. The concert was so successful—both artistically and as a fundraising tool—that the singer quickly went into the studio to record much of the material. This more eflective and quiet volume opens with the (literally) haunting "La Llorona," one of several songs that also appeared on the Musas albums; here, the ghost story is delivered in an even more spare and plaintive fashion, setting the stage for the 10 songs that follow, all of which revel in their emotional intensity. Although some tracks are arranged in a more complex manner than the guitars-and-voice style of the Musas albums (the gentle horns and delicate strings on a fantastic medley of "Alma Mía / Tú Me Acostumbraste / Soledad y El Mar" manage to be both diaphanous and warmly comforting), the mood is consistent, leaning heavily on son jarocho musical style and the skills of the mariachi orchestra on hand as backing musicians. As with the first volume of Un Canto, Lafourcade breezily shares the spotlight with other singers, including on another version of "La Llorona" (with Silvana Estrada and Ely Guerra), a medley of two Mon Laferte songs ("La Trenza / Amor Completo") with the Chilean singer, and, most notably, on "Recuérdeme," in which the Coco song is rendered as a lush ballad with guest vocals by Carlos Rivera, showing both her creative generosity and the effortlessness with which she is able to honor traditional forms in a modern-sounding context. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

Mucho Mas Que Dos features actor and singer Ana Belen in live duets with her husband Victor Manuel on 16 classic songs written by some of the best songwriters of Spain’s so-called “Protest Generation.”© Steve Leggett /TiVo