The words of Shakespeare and the music and vocals of Portugal’s singer supreme Maria Joao’selectronic project OGRE ？ a perfectly poetic combination and an album for the ages．
”Songs for Shakespeare”is a labor of love which has been growing in the back of the minds of Maria Jo？oand Jo？o Farinha partners for more than ten years in the jazz／electronic project OGRE for at least sevenyears and finally came to fruition in 2022． The eight original songs of this album take the listener on a poetictrip a mind blowing journey in sound． Starting with the sonnet “Look In Thy Glass” a dramatic melody overan orchestrated head−nod groove through the almost industrial Samba beats of “The Lunatic The LoverAnd The Poet” or the string laden balladry of “Love Looks Not With The Eyes” and the cinematic eleganceof “Romeo” the snarky keyboard−wizardry and straight beats of “Willow” the driving “The Man That Hath NoMusic In Himself” （including a perfectly technoid break） the moody and melancholic hymn “Sigh No MoreLadies” the album finishes with a trip−hoppingly triumphant “Tempest”． By gluing these pieces together in apatchwork Maria Jo？o and Jo？o Farinha create a new narrative that extends the Shakespearean universefrom end to end．