A more mature and confident feel.
Mr. R. J. Davidson | Edinburgh, Scotland. UK | 04/04/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Lucie Silvas has carved a niche for herself as a piano-plinking singer-songwriter.
She received much deserved praise from her last album, and rightfully so, reaching number one in UK and selling over 400,000 copies is no mean feat.
Anyway the general consensus was : great voice, bland songs.
With this new album Lucie has teamed up with Coldplay producer Danton Supple to help her break down the walls that she found surrounded her on her last album.
Wanting the album to be less safe and less manufactured, results in a 'live' sound, with real music and less knob twiddling.
With this new set, however, and with the help from the man behind Coldplay's "X & Y", the result is cleaner (no fussy orchestration), and Silvas sounds genuinely engaged.
Even the powerhouse ballads have an intimacy, with the best tracks, in particular "Last Year", co-written with 1970s music goddess Judie Tzuke.
The fact that she seems more controlled culminates in a more mature feel to the album, more accomplished.
Mingling this with the slightly alternative icons of John Mayer and India Arie is just enough to tip the scales away from the pop scene, and more to join the ranks of Norah Jones and more recently Madeleine Peyroux."