This is a re-recording of Laura Mvula’s Mercury-nominated debut, Sing To The Moon, with the accompaniment of a celebrated 52-piece Dutch orchestra. Assembled at Abbey Road under the baton of Jules Buckley, it’s a lush affair encompassing a range of styles including pop, jazz, r ‘n’ b, soul and classical.
The epic ‘Make Me Lovely’, sounding like a latter-day Shirley Bassey, would make for a decent Bond theme; the jazzier, almost psychedelic ‘Like The Morning Dew’ boasts a complex melodic structure and arrangement; snd ‘Sing To The Moon’ is prefaced by a military drum pattern and arpeggio-ed harp and is similar to the original. ‘Green Garden’, also rearranged from her debut, finds Mvula sparring with dramatic strings and stabbing brass.
At times the tumultous backing threatens to overwhelm. Still, for the most part Mvula holds her own. The brass arrangement on ‘Father Father’ adds a big-band Sinatra-like effect; the plucked harp on ‘I Don’t Know What The Weather Will Be’ lends a baroque feel. Things are not always so satisfying, however: the oversaturated echo-chamber effect on ‘Is There Anybody Out There’ is distracting; and the synthesized harmonies on ‘She’ detract from the overall organic approach. Technically impressive, deftly arranged, sung and performed, the whole album still feels like less than the sum of its parts...
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