The name of composer Rodrigo Leao has long been familiar. First in Portugal, with the band Setima Legiao. Then, as part of another innovative project, Madredeus, his art crossed borders. When his first album under his own name (Ave Mundi Luminar) came out in 1993, he immediately realised that his music belonged to the world, and this has been confirmed throughout a career that already boasts a considerable discography, which also includes soundtracks and collaborations with big names such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy), Beth Gibbons (Portishead) or Michelle Gurevich, to name but a few. Now, thirty-two years after his debut as a solo musician, comes O Rapaz da Montanha, and there's no avoiding the adjective: Rodrigo Leao's new disc is surprising, both in musical terms and even in terms of the composer's career.

He himself recognises this: 'It was an unexpected record. I've had it in my head for three years and I've been building it in a very focussed way, in a different way to my previous albums, in which the composition came out without any specific time or intention. Here, starting from that phrase by Ana Carolina [Costa] 'If God forgives those who deceive/who forgives God?' [included in the theme Cadeira Preta] I immediately began to think about what I was going to do. And now that it's finished, I think it's the most Portuguese album I've made to date.'

It would be wrong to say that O Rapaz da Montanha represents a revolution in Rodrigo Leao's musical universe. Rather, it's a consequent evolution, which even though it brings changes, doesn't abandon a millimetre of the composer's musical identity. With an already long and remarkable career, restlessness and curiosity remain alive in Rodrigo Leao. This O Rapaz da Montanha is further beautiful proof. It's up to us to listen and be grateful.