Yes, it is a crummy title for such a good record, but let’s put that behind us. Jessie Grace, a painfully pretty singer-songwriter from Bucks, has made some of the lushest, most beguiling music to come our way in the past half a decade. (Yup, it is that long:keep watching, kids). I don’t want you thinking that I’m becoming a letch (to judge from some of the comments regarding the Winter Warmer, that may now be a forlorn hope), but some of these songs seem so dirty that I could write a Derek and Clive dialogue about them.
Take opener, ‘Beautiful’. It is said that, after buying Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’, some people took a week to get past ‘Airbag’. In an analogous manner, I struggled to get past the introductory Rhodes and drum machine lick, which is both slightly off-kilter and perfection incarnate. The song proper sounds like a monster Morcheeba hit, up there with ‘The Sea’, and Jessie matches Skye Edwards for winning ease and sleepy sensuality. It’s not perfect- the producer should have insisted on some retakes of the acoustic guitar, which betrays a few fluffed chords, but overall the song is sophisticated, sexy and sets the tone for an album which contains few duds and a couple of real gems.
Jessie’s bluesier, rockier side is displayed on ‘Science Tree’, a mid-tempo Bonnie Raitt chug, enlivened by wispy backup vocals and Grace’s uninhibited sexuality: ‘Can’t get you out of my dirty mind’. Nor thee mine.
Still, this style is not Grace’s forte. It’s too conventional and pales before the more sophisticated numbers, of which perhaps the best is ‘L. O.V. E.’ which boasts another lovely intro, this time based around a cello. The later piano work recalls Tori Amos and Fiona Apple, but Jessie retains her elfin individuality throughout. The melody is brilliantly constructed, a swooping, effortless line with the odd blue note adding a citrus tang if it ever threatens to get too saccharine. Delicious.
‘Firmly down’ is a crunching little rocker, which benefits from Grace’s jazz experience, as the chord sequence occasionally makes clever but comprehensible jumps, stopping it all getting too Suzi Quatro on us. Grace’s manner is sassy and sarky, making as much as she can of some rather adolescent poetry: ‘I’m not taking the rap for your tit-for-tat crap’ won’t be giving Lily Allen nightmares.
Closer ‘Springtime’ is another exercise in flawless melody, Grace swooping, well, gracefully over a prime jazz accompaniment, alternately acoustic guitar, piano and string quartet. Her accent varies alarmingly, like watching three Meryl Streep movies at once. It’s a little syrupy for me (I’m a ‘Deer Hunter’ rather than ‘Mamma Mia’ man), but as a vehicle for Grace’s wonderful voice it’s well worth hearing a few times.
‘Asleep on the Good Foot’ is an excellent debut from a really promising talent. A song like ‘L.O.V. E.’ is clinching proof of how good Grace can be, bringing it all together: smart songwriting, sympathetic production and a delectable voice. And she’s young and gorgeous. Don’t you just hate her?