Album Review: Jack Savoretti, Sleep No More

Featuring a staggering roll call of six different big–name producers, all of whom have worked with acts whose influence is immediately recognisable on Savoretti’s sophomore release, it’s a wonder that Sleep No More holds together as a unified work at all. The influence of Paolo Nutini and George Ezra is hard to ignore, with Savoretti clearly looking to emulate the barnstorming impact of the latter’s ‘Blame It On Me’. This is widescreen pop, strobe lit and built to reach the back rows. At its best, the album recalls Gary Barlow on peak form; at its worst, it edges dangerously close to the MOR of latter day Bon Jovi.
‘Any Other Way’ is the most overtly Nutini-influenced track on the album, but its charmingly upbeat energy is infectious and the arrangement is spot on. ‘Start Living In The Moment’, meanwhile, kicks off like latterday Kings Of Leon, with a hands-in-the-air chorus that borrows from U2’s ‘Beautiful Day’.
Savoretti excels on the beautiful, low–key Mediterranean shuffle ‘Lullaby Loving’, his soulful voice expressing raw emotion over a sparse arrangement. In the debit column, for a record that is supposed to be about relationship problems that keep you up at night, everything sounds oddly triumphant; choruses soar over thumping drums, and songs build to epic crescendoes. It’s hardly the stuff of a dark night of the soul. But when the music does match up with the message, as on ‘Tight Rope’ and ‘Lullaby Loving’, everything suddenly snaps into focus and Savoretti is at his most emotionally affecting.