[.ca] Wonderland

From Amazon.com:
Wonderland is something like the musical equivalent of a photographic negative: an oddly inverted place which--as one might guess--bears more than a passing resemblance to the world Alice visits in Lewis Carroll's masterpiece. Badi Assad's second release on edge/Deutsche Grammophon--a collection of her versions of other artists' compositions--brings new meaning to the term "cover," by concealing sobering political and social messages under alluring and often jubilant melodies. She addresses domestic violence with Asian Dub Foundation's "1000 Mirrors," transforms the cold shimmer of Tori Amos's "Black-Dove (January)" into a subdued meditation on rape, and movingly laments child prostitution on "O Mundo Ê Um Moinho" ("The World Is a Mill"). It is a testament to Assad's artistry, however, that Wonderland's most captivating piece is probably her collaboration with Chico César on "Zoar" ("Buzzing"), an atmospheric march through shadows and light that is by turns ominous and whimsical. And, of course, always hiding behind Assad's enchanting voice is her stellar guitar work, which shines in a beautiful interlude on the album-opening "Acredite Ou Não" ("Believe It or Not") and conjures the dark gravity of flamenco's Soleá on "Distantes Demais" ("Too Far Away"). So it seems likely that long-time aficionados will be eager to fall, like Alice, into Wonderland's rabbit hole--and new fans will find it a challenging work that rewards repeated listening. --Brent Kallmer

• ACREDITE OU NÃO (Lenine & Braulio Tavares)
• FROM UNITED STATES OF PIAUI (Gonzaguinha)
• 1000 MIRRORS (Asian Dub Foundation)
• DISTANTES DEMAIS (Lenine & Dudu Falcão)
• SWEET DREAMS (Annie Lennox & Dave Stewart)
• A BANCA DO DISTINTO (Billy Blanco)
• BLACK DOVE (Tori Amos)
• ZOAR (Badi Assad & Chico César)
• VACILÃO (Zé Roberto)
• O MUNDO E UM MOINHO (Cartola)
• ONE MORE KISS, DEAR (Peter Skellern & Vangelis)
• O QUE SERÍA? (Badi Assad)
• ESTRADA DO SOL (Tom Jobim & Dolores Duran)