I’ve listened to Liana Flores for a time now and have been thoroughly impressed by her strong sultry vocals, impressive writing skills and eclectic knowledge of jazz music which has influenced her work. However, I’ve always failed to believe that someone with all these skills can only be 25 years old, yet write music like they’ve lived a lifetime.
As such, when Liana Flores announced a tour as she released her album, Flowers of the Soul, it felt only right to confirm this. I’m happy to report that my doubts were incorrect and Liana Flores is every bit as musically educated as any jazz musician that lived during the 60s & 70s.
Supported by Portuguese artist Raquel Martins, used acoustic guitar and a synth board which housed self-curated sounds to gently sway the crowd with her soft vocals. Off the back of touring with Liana previously, it’s easy to see why Raquel was asked to be the support act for Liana’s tour.
Perfectly complimenting the vibe that Liana was to bring during her set, Raquel performed a variety of her own songs from Empty Flowers, which shares the same name as her debut EP, to Mountain, a song written about her friend’s repetitive mental struggles, to some notably more upbeat beat songs that infused her Portuguese heritage in both sound and lyrics.
Pausing between each song to share anecdotes about what each song meant and how she wrote them, it was a delightfully intimate start to the evening. Shortly after this, Raquel re-took the stage, this time in a supporting role as part of Liana’s band as the headliner gracefully took the stage to a thunderous round of applause before swiftly starting a soft and endearing evening of jazz infused folk music.
Liana’s song choice for the evening was expertly crafted to show off her discography, her vast musical knowledge and the inspirations behind each track. Throughout her set, Liana played a series of her songs from her newest album including “Hello Again”, which included a gentle call and response with the audience, an uplifting double creature feature of “Cuckoo & Butterfly” intertwined with “Nightvisions”, which included a short but sweet prologue to the song about Halloween and meeting your vampire lover.
In addition to songs from her newest album, Liana also included songs from her previous EPs including, recently, from the EP of the same name, Try Again Tomorrow and Jupiter Rainstorm. In addition to these, Liana also provided a couple of covers including Light Flight from Pentangle and drawing inspiration from her Brazilian roots to deliver a bossa nova infused cover of The Girl From Ipanema.
The combination of Lian and Raquel provided an excellent evening of slow jams, mixed with fast paced jazz bass lines and ethereal effervescent vocals from both singers. Given Liana’s recent album release I hope she continues the momentum of gaining popularity and I sincerely hope that with her debut album on the way next year, the future is just as bright for Raquel.
Words + photography by Sam Huntley
