The name is Gin, but beer provided the breakthrough.
Yes, this is the lady singing on the train in the most recent Bond-themed television ad for a certain green-bottled beverage. It's odd, though, that this album release was delayed and won't quite reap the benefits of the high-profile exposure gifted to her single Man Like That.
Gravel & Wine couldn't be a better fit for a particularly lucrative market if it had been pieced together by a huddle of record industry marketing men in lab coats. Rhythmically, Wigmore is rolling with Adele; stylistically, she's rocking with Imelda May; vocally, she shares a helium ballpark with Duffy and Macy Gray.
But before you dismiss the album for its copycat crimes, note that it actually came out more than a year ago in Wigmore's native New Zealand, where her 2009 album, Holy Smoke, gained triple platinum status. Mostly it's swinging rock'n'roll driven by a tribal beat and a few too many "hoowah" chants from the male backing vocalists.
The songs are strong, but it really needs those occasional ballad breathers to break up what would otherwise be a rather repetitive party playlist.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article