This intimate, 12-track collection is Stacey Kent’s first standards album since her 2003 recording, The Boy Next Door. It sees the US- born, London-based vocalist team up with the legendary Brazilian composer and guitarist, Roberto Menescal, one of the founders of bossa nova and winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2014 Latin Grammy Awards. Menescal and Kent have teamed up before, on her previous album The Changing Lights (2013), but hearing the fruits of their close musical relationship unfold over the course of an entire album is a real joy. Whether it’s the profound sadness of ‘There Will Never Be Another You’ or the mid-tempo swing of ‘No Moon At All’, these spare and sparse arrangements, with only Kent’s husband Jim Tomlinson on tenor sax and flute and bassist Jeremy Brown for company, go right to the heart of the song. From the scene-setting ‘Only Trust Your Heart’ to the title track, tempos are, on the whole, extremely slow, allowing the listener to fully appreciate the mellifluous dovetailing of voice and guitar. This is an extremely beautiful meeting of minds.

Jazzwise spoke to Stacey Kent and Jim Tomlinson about the albumThey say never meet your heroes. Did recording with Menescal meet your expectations?

Stacey Kent: It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. We became good friends and spent a lot of time together, emailing each other back and forth, sharing a lot of thoughts and stories. Menescal carries the sensibility of bossa nova with him wherever he goes, and whatever he does. Even though this is a standards album, that universe is ever-present.

In terms of the phrasing and the beautiful rubato, Menescal’s guitar playing suggests a complete consanguinity of mind with your own approach. Is this something you felt?

SK: So intensely, we felt it from the minute we met. It was such a lightning strike of a friendship, and I think it’s because we had such a shared vision of the world and music. Even the way he plays the guitar: he’s one of the only bossa novaists who plays electric guitar. But he plays it with his fingers, there’s no plectrum. There’s a real intimacy and total connection, and so much space.

Tempo is all important. Who counted off the songs?

Jim Tomlinson: It was Menescal who was driving the arranging process, and they very much have his signature arranging touches as well, in terms of the way things are harmonised and modulations, and so on. But the tempos are driven by where the lyric sits: what’s the right tempo for the number of words you’ve got to sing, and for the sentiment that’s being expressed?

With the stripped down instrumentation – no piano, no drums – the focus of the listener’s attention is completely on the voice. Did you find that liberating or terrifying?

SK: There was definitely pressure on me because there’s nowhere to hide on this album – it’s the most exposed album I’ve ever made. I wouldn’t say terrified because I felt so utterly comfortable in the presence of these three musicians with whom I was playing. But I knew I had to step up to the plate.