Secret Life Of A Girl

Thankfully, Dublin jazz singer Christine Tobin has crafted an album of mostly her own songs rather than re-run us through threadbare standards. Those songs are literate and provocative, and the pristine soft-jazz arrangements enable both the material and her silky-latte voice to flourish, especially ‘Corner Of An Eye’, the funkified ‘Bye Bye’, and the adventurous ‘Minx’. Her take on Leonard Cohen’s ‘Everybody’ Knows’ pales beside recent live versions by Cohen, or even Rufus Wainwright’s interpretation. Coincidentally, she adds a subtlety to Rufus’ own ‘Poses’. For those persuaded that Norah Jones is jazz, Tobin delivers a recuperative helping of the real stuff.
Key track: ‘Bye bye’