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| Corinne Bailey Rae: ’The Sea’’ The return of Corinne Bailey Rae with her second album 'The Sea' has been met with an amazing reaction. With artwork shot by Tierney Gearon, The Sea is already being hailed as one of the essential albums for 2010, The Sea is an extraordinary work. The first single from the album I'd Do It All Again, a deeply passionate, moving and uplifting song, is released on the same day as the album. Corinne Bailey Rae played a short set at the Union Chapel recently followed by her first full gig in over two years at London's Tabernacle last week to a wonderful reception. Early praise for 'The Sea': "'The Sea' ought to be universally praised for demonstrating an extraordinary musical maturing. Arrangements are complex, melodies reveal themselves slowly and even her voice has lost its simple clarity to become an almost slurred, pained deeply beautiful thing. While her personal life was collapsing, Corinne Bailey Rae's music has taken a great leap forward" Evening Standard "Although 'The Sea' has many hues it is dyed deep in pain… Now [it] is shaping up to be Bailey Rae's own 'Back To Black', a rewarding hit built on pain" The Observer "A five star album that has already secured a place on the Best of 2010 lists" The Sun Live reviews of Corinne Bailey Rae: "The new Bailey Rae is a different proposition entirely. One listen to the forthcoming album 'The Sea' reveals an artist who has gone through a musical transformation. Gone are the lightweight pop songs of her big-selling debut, replaced instead by deeply personal ballads that drip with emotion… And that was the glorious thing, the songs managed to be both incredibly sad and incredibly uplifting… More than just a gig this was a breathtaking reminder of the redemptive power of song" - Evening Standard 5/5 "It's a privilege to hear these magical songs for the first time. When 'The Sea' comes out in February, dive in - the water's lovely" - News of the World 5/5 "Rae has undergone a tidal shift towards a raw, less manicured sound… 'Are You Here' was a spiralling elegy in which she eschewed lyrical enunciation in favour of elemental anguish… 'I'd Do It All Again swelled with Jeff Buckley-style vocal flutters, sometimes small and bruised, sometimes huge and searching. And 'Love's On Its Way' was more powerful still as Rae… channelled a burst of turbulent mysticism that evoked Van Morrison circa 'Astral Weeks' - The Times, 4/5 "It's trite to suggest that Rae has become a more soulful vocalist since her loss but there is a depth of feeling that didn't exist on her debut. The breeziness of that album was occasionally present here in a life-goes-on way, lighting up new tunes such as 'Paris Nights/New York Mornings' but it was her sombre, pained delivery that made this show moving… as she left the stage, the spell of the aching new songs lingered" - The Guardian 4/5 "The music is freighted with sadness but between songs Corinne is smiling. She offers none of the plastic histrionics of the X-Factor divas; this is a genuine star" - Mail On Sunday 4/5 "Her forthcoming second album 'The Sea' [is] one of the most anticipated releases of 2010… judged on tonight's performance you're unlikely to hear a braver, more powerful record in the next 12 months… You may not have noticed her absence, but pretty soon you'll wonder where these songs have been all your life" - The Independent 4/5 "Often this new Bailey Rae is a singer reborn. She whoops softly and slurs thoughtfully and smears phrases of melody in unlikely places, taking a new found freeness from jazz and Jeff Buckley... This new, authoritative ephemerality - think Cat Power crossed with Nina Simone - promotes Bailey Rae instantly into a higher echelon of vocalist… At the close of the bell-strewn rock-gospel of 'Love's On Its Way' - a new track that fleetingly suggests Lauryn Hill singing Radiohead - she remains immobile, hands frozen in mid-flutter… Then after what feels like a long radio silence, she blinks and comes back in the room, acknowledging the applause like a doe in the headlights" - The Observer "Backed by an inventive five-piece band, her set was noisier and more lively than might have been predicted with left-field arrangements filled out with big, complex harmonies and even the most intimate and sorrowful songs swelling to rocky explosions of sound, like the blow-outs at the end of a Pink Floyd epic, with Rae's high, lovely voice floating away on washes of keys and guitars" - Daily Telegraph write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Jazz News :: home page |