Rae Morris
Unguarded
(Atlantic)
There is nothing wrong with this album. More's the pity perhaps. A little wildness, the odd error of judgement, might just have broken through the glossy surface. Rae Morris is a lion-maned singer-songwriter from Blackpool who has a very fine voice and a real ear for a pop hook. Signed as a teenager by Atlantic, her early outings drew the odd comparison with Kate Bush. But she has none of the cosseted, bookish showoffiness of the teenage Bush. And you wonder if Atlantic see Ellie Goulding as a more productive comparison point. Certainly Ariel Rechtshaid's production is a finely wrought radio-friendly thing of slick beats and smart soundbeds. It works well on a track-to-track basis. The retro trip hop beats under opener Skin help make it the most immediate thing here, and the rave piano on Love Again is fun. The problem is that over an album's length it can feel too polite. And so you latch onto those moments - mostly in the second half - where Morris's voice is given free rein; on the title song, multi-tracked on Love Again and all too briefly echoing Elizabeth Fraser on Morne Fortune. Next time more of that please.
Teddy Jamieson
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