Unusual Girl is the debut album from the UK based, four-piece group, Verão! (ft Helen Abbey). Original latin-infused, jazz tinged, retro pop. "This is Helen Abbey at her very best. She has never sounded better and has found herself a cracking band. It’s bright, it’s breezy and Verao! have the wow factor!" Stephen Foster, BBC Radio Suffolk, Senior Broadcast Journalist/Music Manager.
Formed in 2011, Verão! (Portuguese for summer) have an original sound. “We wanted to use different colours and styles to explore a range of our influences, from the bossa novas of Brazil, to a more contemporary mix of classic and retro-pop, all informed by our love of jazz music,” says vocalist and songwriter Helen Abbey.
The band’s first single was released in the latter part of 2011 and features three tracks from the album — Summer’s Game, Whole Lotta Life and Glimpse of Love. It quickly picked up airplay on BBC Radio.
Helen Abbey already has two successful albums to her name, Simply Me and Second Time Around, and Unusual Girl was originally intended as her third solo release. “I wanted to focus more on writing original songs,” says Helen, “When I started working with Dave (Verão!’s guitarist and co-producer) the partnership clicked and the songs started pouring out.” It quickly became very much a collaborative band project with Alex Best (drums and percussion) and Matthew Keen (keyboards) becoming permanent members of the Verão! line-up.
Unusual Girl has guest appearances from Italian harmonica virtuoso Luigi Ferrara, and co-producers Davy Jones (bass), and Mike Westergaard (keyboards).
The album was released on July 4th, 2012 and features twelve original songs written by Helen Abbey and Dave Burrluck.
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