By turns hallucinatory and heart-stoppingly beautiful, Agora is quite unlike anything we’ve heard before from vocalist Gilberto. Produced by her long-standing friend Thomas Bartlett, her first new studio album in six years comes after a period of heartbreak for the singer-songwriter, which included the deaths of both her parents, legendary Brazilian musicians João Gilberto and Miúcha, within six months of each other.

As heard on the title track and elsewhere, the material tends to exist in a kind of harmonic stasis, with Gilberto’s voice floating over minimalistic, layered backdrops of looping rhythms and ghostly electronic resonances, all bathed in an otherworldly reverb. “I’m singing this melody for you,” Gilberto intones over a hypnotically repeating bossa rhythm on ‘Cliché’, while the outer-spacious delights of ‘Bolero’ and ‘Essence’ both hint at realms beyond the human sphere. Based on an utterly seductive 5/4 groove, ‘Yet Another Love Song’ offers another feast for the senses that takes the listener on a fascinating journey through sound and space.