Jessie Ware is one of those artists whose name you recognize but whose songs you might not be able to recall.
Hopefully that will all change with the release of her brilliant second album ‘Tough Love’.
From the first bars of the title track, we thought this was going to be a run of the mill electronic extravaganza. But it’s so much than that.
‘Cruel’ has an interesting urban influence that is addictively catchy, whereas ‘Sweetest Song’ is almost George Michael influenced.
The soulful slow jam sound is particularly present on the flirty “Kind Of…Sometimes…Maybe’ with its delightful ‘ooohs’ in the chorus.
Second single ‘Say You Love Me’ was co-written by Ed Sheeran who injects his acoustic sensibility into one of the slower moments on the album.
To be honest, we prefer it when Jessie fuses electronic and R&B elements together, such as on ‘Keep On Lying’. The moody ‘If this ain’t love’ refrain is kept light by the electronic beats to find a happy medium.
When Jessie does go for a straight electronic sound, it’s still rather good. ‘Want Your Feeling’ combines soulful vocals with a Moloko-esque backing track. We also love the dreamy synth guitars bits all over ‘You & I (Forever)’.
Whilst we’re not the biggest fans of the experimental ‘Desire’, we otherwise love this album.
The great thing about it is that it gives Jessie a clear sound that she can move around in. It’s unique yet commercial, dancey yet soulful.
Perhaps the best indicator of our satisfaction with ‘Tough Love’ is that after listening to it, we immediately downloaded her first album ‘Devotion’.
Consider us very happy, devoted auspOppers indeed.
Download : You and I (Forever), Cruel, Kind Of…Sometimes…Maybe, Keep On Lying.
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