Martina Liviero Releases Stunning Second Single "Refugio"
Deeply listening to Martina Liviero’s 2 Singles
“Refugio” & “Florecer”
Written by Virna Gvero
“It must be somewhere, the original harmony, somewhere in great nature, hidden” wrote Juhan Liiv in his poem “Music”. In this short but striking composition, the Estonian poet longs for the one perfect harmony, the music that underpins all existence. He equates it with the pulse of life itself and its many manifestations: from its tiniest speck to the “furious”, unknowable infinite, somewhere beyond our experience and comprehension. I’ve always thought of music this way: existing in a liminal space, the in-between holding both the concrete, the everyday, as well as the spiritual and the transcendental. Martina Liviero’s music makes me think of this: of the great heights music can reach and of the disarming power harnessed by the simplest melodies. Her pieces are at once sophisticated and immediate, the arrangements refined without ever feeling overbearing. If music is a quest, then the first two tracks of her upcoming debut album, titled “Florecer” and “Refugio”, suggest two potential trajectories, attesting to the enduring power of seeking over the certainty of definitive answers.
In them, the Argentine composer, guitarist and singer-songwriter weaves an intensely personal and intimate musical statement. “Florecer” and “Refugio” provide a glimpse into her first album’s skillfully crafted sound, situated at the crossroads of her many influences, while also standing out as resolutely her own. They also attest to Liviero’s solid musical foundation — she’s a graduate of Berklee College of Music — her extensive experience as a composer and performer and her deeply rich musical heritage. Complemented by lyrics in her native Spanish, the tracks showcase Liviero’s distinctive songwriting style while simultaneously evoking South America’s rich guitar tradition and lyrical heritage. Moreover, they are infused with a distinctively contemporary, jazz-driven approach to composition, allowing the Argentine composer to both celebrate and renew the many influences that underpin her music.
The arrangements are layered and warm, combining Liviero’s signature classical guitar with an array of instruments: piano, double bass, electric guitar, clarinet and the occasional digital effects. They form the pieces’ beating core, providing an organic ensemble, a solid and welcoming bedrock on which her lyrics, sung delicately yet decisively, gently rest. Rather than being verse-driven, both tracks reveal an approach to songwriting that treats each word as a cluster of sounds, a feast of notes before anything else, falling neatly into place with the rest.
“Florecer” starts abruptly, plunging us immediately into a sonic space built on the steady harmonic movement of the composer’s classical guitar: plucked strings are accompanied by a gentle, recurring piano motif, sparse guitars and a steady double bass propelling the piece forward. The intro sets the melodic foundation of the piece and very quickly this forward motion shifts into a slightly more back-and-forth flow as Liviero’s vocals kick in. Her singing feels both floating and precise, the phrasing entirely mastered: each word carefully articulated in dialogue with the arrangement, enhancing the underlying harmonic and melodic structure.
“Florecer” feels open and fresh, like an awakening: its lyrics contemplate notions of change, transformation and rebirth. Resisting a fixed structure in favor of a freer, more organic movement, the track mirrors these themes, gradually unfolding as it moves forward. As the lyrics fade, they give way to an instrumental outro that expands progressively and the piece “blooms”, as both title and lyrics suggest, embracing shifts in instrumentation, with luscious clarinets cropping up, taking the lead atop the instrumentation, before the last piano phrases gently close the piece.
“Refugio” feels more sparse, its intro built atop a succession of piano phrases interspersed with audio effects, lingering a little while before Liviero’s vocals and guitar harmony join in. Scattered here and there, digitally-reversed chords and other embellishments offer a welcome touch of ear candy that counterpoints the analog instrumentation. In this second track, Liviero sings about music itself as a cosmic force, found in the radiance of days, the soft melodies whispered by the wind or the moving flow of a river. There’s a sense of fleetingness and acceptance in this track, as if music’s very impermanence is the safest refuge. Closing the album, “Refugio” aptly reads as an act of letting go, its lyrics resembling a poem’s verses, conjuring up delicate and floating images, anchored in the present of life and composition. It’s where Liviero seems to find shelter and we, as listeners, are called to pursue the quest, somewhere between the faintest spark of light and the comforting mantle of darkness, that liminal space from which Liviero’s verses and music spring.
Written by Virna Gvero
Martina Liviero’s debut album “Formas al Desaparecer”
comes out May 16th on Hilo Records
