Renowned British-Brazilian singer-songwriter Liana Flores is known for her haunting vocals, wistful guitar playing and musical range combining influences from British folk, classical jazz and bossa nova to create her unique sound. The artist gained global popularity when a song from her 2019 EP “recently” went viral on TikTok. Since then, she has gathered a loyal fanbase, put out an album and gone on her first headlining tour.
On Sept. 12, she played a sold-out show at The Old Church Concert Hall in downtown Portland. For those that do not know, because I certainly did not, The Old Church is exactly what it sounds like: an old Catholic church turned concert venue. There was no assigned seating as it was all first-come, first-served in the original church pews. The concert hall also kept the original stained glass windows, which depict images of three doves floating above some beautiful white flowers. Additionally, the giant organ, doors and hardware fixtures all seem to remain from the venue’s days as a church. All in all, it is the perfect place to see a jazz singer.
Flores, still somewhat of a budding artist herself, chose other small artists to accompany her on this tour. Her opener was Yeemz, a cellist and singer-songwriter hailing from Santa Monica, California.
The cellist was bubbly, albeit very nervous, and she let the audience know this. Throughout her set, Yeemz peppered in stories and personal anecdotes about her songs — even teaching the audience a call-and-response so we could be the background vocals to her latest release. All of those are rather normal concert-going experiences, but set against the intimate backdrop of stained glass and moonlight, it really felt as if we were just a large group of friends.
Following Yeemz’s, performance, Flores took the stage accompanied by her two-headed lamb plush which dutifully stayed put on the grand piano. She opened with her song “Orange-coloured day” from her new album “Flower of the soul.” Flores interspersed new music with older hits such as “recently,” and “try again tomorrow” which, much to my partner’s amusement, Flores admitted she wrote while working at a data entry job.
Flores was accompanied by a talented tour band composed of a pianist, bassist and guitarist who clearly enjoyed bobbing along and grooving as the set went on. While some pieces were slow and simple rhythmically, others left listeners struggling to tap their feet in time. Uncommon time signatures and the bossa nova obligation of syncopated polyrhythmic rimshots created a relaxed yet intelligent instrumental sound while Flores took center stage with gorgeous vocal performances.
Midway through the show, she announced two songs as a pair: a classic Brazilian bossa nova piece and an English folk song. The first was “Wave,” a 1976 work by highly influential composer Tom Jobim. The second was the most complex of the evening: 1969’s “Light Flight” by Pentangle. The piece begins in sextuple meter, then alternates between septuple and octuple each measure for the rest of the piece. If no other part of the performance dazzled a music theory nerd in the audience, this band’s effortless rendition of such a complex piece of music surely did.
This was not the type of concert where audience members were dancing along or singing at the top of their lungs, however, that did not mean the audience was any less enthused. A crowd-favorite performance was “Nightvisions” which Flores sheepishly admitted was about a lesbian romance involving a vampire. Hearing this, the crowd went absolutely wild.
Overall, Liana Flores left Portland better than she found it, and without a doubt wishing for her to return again soon. The stars aligned at The Old Church that night for her to give an amazing show at an amazing venue.
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