Lianne La Havas - Blood

Lianne La Havas
Blood
2015

For a sophomore release Lianne La Havas has decided to go the bold route rather than sit back on her previous successes. Blood shows the singer songwriter putting down the guitar for a bit and relying on larger production, bigger sounds and more upbeat rhythms. Her vocals are still crystal clear and wholly her own, but just on a much larger scale. "Green & Gold" is the closest to her previous work and also the song that is most autobiographical. Splashy Jazz fill the song with life but on the next track "What You Don't Do" she goes back into the bigger bolder sounds. Aqualung produced most of the record and even co-wrote on some of the tracks and his signature style begins to bleed through. There is a classic feel to this record like soul singers of old, but nothing is ever dated here. This record is not an homage, it is fully it's own work. La Havas still manages to have her guitar picking style of many of the tracks, but that is never the focus like it was on her debut. The record for the most part is dreamy and lives in the clouds as it meanders along.

One issue is the track length. There is not a song under about three and a half minutes so often times the tracks seem to drag on and on. The pacing is so loose that you become bogged down on one track when you should be moving on to the next. It's not like you are getting more insightful lyrics during these extended periods, instead they are just repeating and repeating. Unnecessary vocal runs and jazz solos take a great song like "Tokyo" and bog it down making it seem sluggish and overblown. You aren't going to get anything really upbeat on Blood, making it come across as one slow note. You would hope that some of the collaborations would breathe some life into the record, but to no avail. One their own these songs would sound great but hearing them as a group is taxing. Blood shows great progress for Lianne La Havas and great things are on the horizon, however this record could really use a shot of life and some editing.

5.9 out of 10