Katy B - Little Red

It’s three years since South Londoner Katy B burst onto the scene with On A Mission. It was a sublime collection, showcasing honeyed vocals over dubstep, drum ‘n’ bass and garage beats. Produced and released on a minuscule budget, the album – which reached No. 1 in the UK and garnered the singer a Mercury nomination – felt like a real labour of love, both for the then teenage Katy and the London pirate station for which she also worked, Rinse FM.

Given On A Mission’s underdog status, it was almost inevitable that its big-budget follow-up would sacrifice some of the gritty edge. Katy is no longer – either literally or metaphorically – the teen party-girl who ignores the bouncer’s pleas to feck off home at the end of the night, instead staying-put on the dancefloor ‘til the bitter end (‘Lights On’). In other words, Little Red doesn’t pack the immediate punch of On A Mission.

Production-wise, despite the continuing presence of DJ Geeneus (he of the aforementioned Reach FM), the new album instantly feels more polished. “But that’s a good thing,” I hear you cry. Well, yes up to a point. But there is a loss involved here, too, of the delicious grimy undercurrent that ultimately made On A Mission such a stand-out.

That’s not to say there aren’t great moments on Little Red. There are. But, on this early acquaintance, it does seem to lack a killer track of the kind that would compel you to the nearest sweaty, underground dancefloor, à la On A
Mission’s ‘Broken Record’, ‘Lights On’, or, of course, the glorious ‘Katy On A Mission’.

In its own way, ‘I Like You’ is a cracker, with its hypnotic vocal over a throbbing dance beat. Fellow Londoner Jessie Ware joins Katy for ‘Aaliyah’, a very fine 2014-style take on Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’. “Aaliyah please don’t take my man/ Although you know you can,” the duo purr. Inspired by the best of ’90s R&B and pop, ‘Everything’, meanwhile, is a stomper that highlights just how great the Katy/Geeneus union can be.

On occasion, though, the album lags. Located somewhere between generic pop and samey dance beats, ‘All My Lovin’’, ‘Tumbling Down’ and ‘Play’ – despite a guest vocal from SBTRKT’s Sampha – fall short of greatness.

Its powerful moments notwithstanding, creatively Little Red feels like a victim of ‘difficult second album syndrome’. On the other hand, it’ll probably be huge – and no one would begrudge Katy B that...