“Bianca Rossini’s voice is pure, expressive, playful. Her songs poetic, richly grounded in generations of traditions for which she clearly has deep affection, not to mention expertise and facility. The performances, lithe and life-filled, match all that in every note, every nicely turned phrase. But what stands out most on Vento de Norte is her honesty, both emotional and artistic. At root of this is her deep love for the golden age of the samba and bossa nova of her native Brazil — you don’t cite Ipanema in a song title (the silky “Ipanema Paraiso”) without wanting to evoke that era. But she’s not ignoring or dismissing all the experiments and fusions of those styles that have happened over the years. Rather, she’s renewing the spirit that inspired all that in the first place, and has so profoundly inspired her. She sings of amor (“Doce Amor” — “Sweet Love”) and the flirtatious, tantalizing games we make of it (“Tic Tac do Amor”). But what she really wants is for us to love this music, and all she brings to it, as much as she does. And she succeeds. Delightfully.”