The debut album from a theater regular,
Soñando Vuelos also represents
Anna Estrada's first shot at public singing in general. Given her newness to the field, it's not a bad opening salvo. On
Soñando Vuelos,
Estrada makes heavy use of Brazilian composers and styles, picking well for her vocal range and delivery style. The album opens somewhat shakily with "Takes My Breath Away," coming across as a stilted, stunted piece of music seemingly coming from your average hotel lounge torch singer. Thankfully, the album picks up after this as
Estrada moves from English to Brazilian and reduces the tempo a bit. Her vocals start to float over the songs. The music evens out behind her. The delivery is less forced and takes the shape of the song itself into account. This is much the course for the album as a whole -- when performing the songs of others (
Jobim,
Carlos Lyra, and Ignacio Martinez are all represented),
Estrada shines. When performing her own lyrics, the sound becomes stiff. There's a lot to like in
Estrada's singing debut, but also a few tracks to skip over. ~ Adam Greenberg