***1/2 Marisa Monte

A GREAT NOISE

(Metro Blue)

Marisa Monte's message is heat-of-passion. She's from Rio de Janeiro, so her rhythm is the samba. And with Arto Lindsay helping produce her latest CD, her supporting music emerges from all kinds of unexpected sources and moves toward lots of different wherevers.

The 18 songs (seven in the studio, 11 live) on A Great Noise recall Suzanne Vega, sometimes Donna Summer ("Blanco"), and occasionally Cassandra Wilson ("Maraca"), Chrissie Hynde ("Cerebro electrónico"), or even Ani DiFranco ("Tempos modernos"). But multiplicity is Monte's great strength, as a storytelling cabaret singer addressing two audiences, the samba and the pop. What makes all versions of her music count is her wide-ranging contralto -- fierce and sweet, jumping ahead of the rhythm a half-beat or so, just enough to pinch the listener. As for Lindsay's grab bag of pop noises, silent spaces, and samba feet, they're what keep Monte herself alert and away from coasting on the music, as singers of unadulterated samba are often heard to do.

-- Michael Freedberg