Unlike the histrionic participants in a certain TV talent show, this honey-voiced Londoner of English/Pakistan (and Irish) heritage, sings so effortlessly and unaffectedly that it’s hard to believe she has been allowed to make a record in the current climate – where pummeling a song into submission is almost mandatory. Good on Rumer: the polar opposite of the latter-day crop of quivering-lipped divas, she has paid her dues the old-fashioned way, working for over a decade on the pub/club circuit before she even got near a studio. And it shows: her refreshingly unselfconscious debut is chock-full of Bacharach-esque balladry and sultry blue-eyed soul that is anything but formulaic.
The songs, including the recent single ‘Slow’, ooze with melody and just the right amount of melancholy – but it’s her mature voice and low-key delivery that makes this record so compelling. Comparisons have been made with the likes of Dusty Springfield, Karen Carpenter and Laura Nyro (and you can add Sade and tragic LA songstress Judee Sill to the list), but Rumer – or Sarah Joyce as her parents call her – is very much her own woman and is never less than confident and relaxed throughout this sure-to-be-huge collection.
The highlight here is ‘Aretha’, a scintillatingly gorgeous tribute to the soul legend. With muted trumpet and minor-key melody, it could have been written for Dionne Warwick in the mid-’60s. Elsewhere, songs such as ‘Take Me As I Am’ and ‘Saving Grace’ prove she has plenty more where that came from. A great beginning. Spread the Rumer...
KEY TRACK: ‘ARETHA’