Tim Jonze 

Corinne Bailey Rae: The Heart Speaks in Whispers review – sweet, smooth soul

  
  

Corinne Bailey Rae
Back in the sun … Corinne Bailey Rae Photograph: Record Company Handout

Corinne Bailey Rae’s last album, 2010’s The Sea, was a grief-stricken affair that dealt with the death of her first husband. Time has been a healer, and this follow-up documents the storm breaking and light emerging into Bailey Rae’s life and lyrics: “Like seeing the sun again, after years of pouring rain,” she sings on standout track Caramel. Bailey Rae’s adoration of classic soul can be both a blessing and a curse. Do You Ever Think of Me, with its shifting chords and sweet falsetto peaks, treads a little too closely to Curtis Mayfield’s The Makings of You for comfort, and other tracks tend to drift so smoothly they can pass you by. But on Caramel, her soulful vocals are given space to bloom over a billowing pop backdrop. And with the likes of Frank Ocean and Kendrick Lamar reviving jazzy, 70s psych-soul, the laidback approach Bailey Rae takes on tracks such as Been to the Moon sounds perfectly in keeping with the times.

Watch video for Corinne Bailey Rae Been to the Moon
 

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