London – With Blood, Lianne La Havas arrives with the weight of expectation and leaves with a sense that her journey is a continuing one; in that respect like most of us, I guess. On the back of a debut record three years ago that became almost a byword for critical acclaim, the expectation that flows from Blood is more than the need to overcome the celebrated second album syndrome. The London singer with her melting pot parentage spanning Greece and Jamaica is as exotic as the Bird of Paradise flowers from her album sleeve and current stage set. Her jazz-pop fusion is easy on the ear yet is peppered with a rare spice that lends individuality to her music.
“Unstoppable” provides a gently atmospheric prelude to the ten-track collection, a warm bass groove anchoring it to earth while La Havas toys with celestial images to affirm a close bond enduring beyond an ended affair: “Our polarity shifted around/ There was nothing else left holding us down/ But it’s just gravitational/ We are unstoppable!” The album continues as a journey of self-discovery inspired by the artist taking a first-time trip to her mother’s home island of Jamaica; a rare opportunity to make family connections and experience the culture of much of her upbringing first hand. In this way Blood is about the stuff that ties us and it’s no accident that the album is celebratory rather than confrontational. The final song, “Good Goodbye”, ends the trip on a hymnal note in its quiet appreciation of friends and family.
The vocal strength of Lianne La Havas lies contrastingly in her very restraint. She operates in her vocal comfort zone so successfully that when she tries to break the shackles in songs like “Grow” and “Never Get Enough” it doesn’t quite come off. In “Grow” the dissonance between the quiet verses and comparatively frenetic choruses is achieved at the expense of distinction, while “Never Get Enough” tries to outgrow “Grow” in alternating soft, graceful verses with rock distortion in the choruses. In both songs, the singular soulful quality of her voice loses out.
Conversely where this vocal precision really succeeds is in the gracefully elaborated balladry of “Green & Gold” and “Wonderful”. She explores her diverse roots in the former song, contrasting childhood hope with realisations in maturity while in “Wonderful” she reprises memories of her lover from “Unstoppable” with a gloriously fragile vocal that teeters on the edge of sentimentality without ever losing its ability to hold you in thrall. The melody with its delicate piano figures, soft finger snaps and decorative strings is just as absorbing.
With its quiet sense of empowerment and understanding, Blood is unlikely to be the final resting place in the journey of Lianne La Havas. Wherever her travels take her next you feel confident that she will absorb and synthesise those experiences with increasing maturity. With a couple of small question marks, it’s reassuring that she has managed to avoid the clichés of current pop music despite working with an array of producers. In a spirit of true collaboration they have largely brought the best out of each other. “And suddenly it seems that I’m where I’m supposed to be” she declares on “Green and Gold”; that’s scarcely too wide of the mark either.
For more on Lianna La Havas go HERE and HERE.
Tony Hardy
Tony’s great passion in life is music and nothing gives him more pleasure than unearthing good, original new music and championing independent musicians. His association with Best New Bands brings great opportunities for this. He also writes for Consequence of Sound and is a judge for Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition.
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