PAOLO NUTINI Caustic Love
It has been almost five years since the Italian-Scotsman has released anything new, but the wait has most definitely been worth it. Nutini takes a step away from his guitar and dances into the soul-funk genre with tracks like album opener and lead single Scream (Funk My Life Up) and Let Me Down Easy which samples Betty LaVette’s 1960s classic Motown track. Another interesting sample is on Iron Sky, featuring snippets from Charlie Chaplin’s famous final speech from The Great Dictator, but he does provide more typical Nutini-esque music with tracks like Numpty, and romantic offerings including Better Man and the stripped-back Someone Like You.
9/10 – Rebecca Flitton
SOHN Tremors
South-London born Toph Taylor made his name as a producer, working with the likes of Lana Del Ray, but in recent years he’s been holed up in Vienna releasing his own tracks of glacial electronica under the moniker Sohn. His debut album showcases his wildly imaginative studio skills and stunning voice. Opener Tempest has a sibilant, autotuned chorus of otherworldly voices that seem to be performing an aural cuddle to comfort Taylor’s heartbreaking falsetto. It is as beautiful as it is odd. Emotional fragility courses through the album and the music is so wildly inventive, it grips to the end.
8/10 – Mark Edwards
ALOE BLACC Lift Your Spirit
Lift Your Spirit continues in the retro soul/funk/gospel theme that the Panamanian-American singer has become known for, with the usual lashings of modern R&B and hip-hop. Red Velvet Seat evokes memories of Percy Sledge with its soul delivery, while Can You Do This and Soldier In The City are energetic crowd pleasers. Blacc’s vocal delivery and composition can be inconsistent but the good songs make up for the shortfalls.
7/10 – Sui Weng Yu
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here