Southern Hummingbird

“A handful of pills and a plan B/ I wanted nothing to do with life or what was to become of me”.

We’ve come to expect a lot of things from R’n’B, yet the opening lines to New Yorker Tweet’s debut album are still something of a shock, pointing to an artist who may well be able to take us beyond the usual bedroom shennanigans of this type of thing. Onwards then to track two with no little excitement. Oh. “You keep me thirsty licking my lips, I’m hungry for you too please my hips”. Well, that’s that buggered then.

Southern Hummingbird is largely rooted in the by now familiar blueprint, a collection of silky smooth ballads detailing the art of love. Tweet has a fine voice to be sure, but with the exception of a couple of edgier tracks the material on offer is so bland that it’s ultimately of little consequence.

As for the spoken credits at the end of the album, you have to wonder how “the one above” would react to coming somewhere below Tweet’s cousins on the thank you list. Still, had He heard much of Southern Hummingbird, maybe He’d be a touch relieved.