Following on from her somewhat understated 2012 debut, Is Your Love Big Enough?, this sophomore release from 25-year-old soul singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lianne La Havas – real name Lianne Charlotte Barnes – is a lot more layered, experimental and self-assured.
Although born and raised in London, La Havas is of Greek and Jamaican parentage and she has stated that the album is all about her bloodline, a musical homage to her heritage. After she’d finished touring her debut, she spent some extended time exploring her roots in Jamaica. While living the island life, she began working and writing with young reggae producer Stephen McGregor (aka Di Genius).
McGregor ultimately produced some of the tracks on Blood – sharing studio credit with Paul Epworth, Mark Batson, Matt Hales and Jamie Lidell – but there’s not a hugely discernible reggae influence in the music, which mostly mixes neo-soul, jazz, R&B, doo-wop, and gospel to great effect. Add in her confidently honey-toned vocals, and it’s easy to see why Prince is such a massive fan.
Thematically, with lots of heartsickness and love gone wrong, there’s blood on some of these tracks, but not always in a bitterly Dylan-esque way. Proceedings open with breezy first cut, ‘Unstoppable’ – a feelgood song that’s less about her career trajectory than finally getting over a painful relationship break-up, healing your heart, and feeling empowered again. “Our polarity shifted around,” she sings,“There was nothing else left holding us down/ But it’s just gravitational/ We are unstoppable."
The most obvious nod to her mixed-race background is on ‘Green & Gold’, a coming of age/dawning of realisation number, which opens with her gently plucked six-stringed acoustic before shuffling into a hypnotically percussive beat. “I’m looking at life unfold/ dreaming of the green and gold/ Just like the ancient stone/ every sunrise I know/Those eyes you gave to me/ They let me see where I come from.”
The plucked acoustic intro of ‘Tokyo’ sounds suspiciously like Radiohead’s ‘Weird Fishes’, at least until the drums kick in. A futuristic ballad about emotional isolation, the song itself would have been a good contender for the Lost In Translation soundtrack. “All I’ve ever known is how to be alone,” she declares, “It comes naturally... you’re out of reach/ wrong place, wrong time.”
The slower songs are the best. La Havas is a seductive balladeer, and ‘Wonderful’ – featuring a gorgeously bittersweet chorus of “But wasn’t it kinda wonderful?/ Wasn’t it kinda wonderful, baby?” – is just that. But she is less at home when she attempts to rock out. ‘Grow’ and ‘Never Get Enough’ both feature noisily distorted choruses, but they really jar with the harmonious flow of the other tracks.
La Havas has already drawn favourable comparisons with everyone from Beyoncé and Alice Smith to Laura Mvula, and Corinne Bailey Rae. It might be the sequencing, or a case of too many producers and co-writers occasionally spoiling the broth, but Blood ultimately falls short of undiluted greatness.
Still, it’s good. Bloody good.