A female vocalist of Jewish extraction hailing from London. Head nods to jazz greats, gospel, soul and everything between. Is Lucinda Belle another Amy Winehouse rip-off?
First let’s rewind to a point long before the tabloid controversy, the unsuccessful stints in rehab and the 'Ronson' treatment, to compare like with like, debut with debut. When Amy Winehouse released Frank, she took smokey jazz and old-school soul out of the middle-aged woman’s stereo and into the clubs, infusing it with modern hip-hop beats, a progressive hybrid production, and to top it all off, the singer’s own abrasive attitude.
My Voice & 45 Strings starts from many of the same initial building blocks. But where Amy Winehouse adds flavours more familiar with artists like Nas and M.I.A., Lucinda Belle leans to Norah Jones and Madeleine Peyroux; where Winehouse sharpens things with sex appeal, Belle rounds it off with RTÉ Radio 1 gloss.
However, these are things that aren't entirely negative. Tracks like 'Jimmy Choo's' display Belle’s accomplished musicianship and mature song-writing, born of her classical and jazz training, as well as her more contemporary experience working as harpist-for-hire for artists as diverse as Pet Shop Boys, Annie Lennox, Rufus Wainwright and Missy Elliott. Speaking of that harp, it is strangely absent from album opener and title track 'My Voice & 45 Strings', with Belle's silky vocal accompanied by rich sixties Vibralux-type guitar. Though the lyrics are great, we wonder where she’s getting the 45 strings from – if she's talking about her harp, well, everyone else’s has 47. Elsewhere, ukulele, strings, clarinet, trombone, accordion, double bass, piano, drums, acoustic and electric guitar are used to paint somewhat safe pictures from an impressively rich palette.
All in all this is a nice, safe, expertly-performed and well-written album with the occasional bland track. It's never going to cause a stir in the mainstream, but it's sure to accompany many’s a bottle of wine and candle-lit dinner on an upper-middle-class Friday night.