Review: Tough Love

Tough Love

'Tough Love' is the second album from English soulstress Jessie Ware.


Widespread critical acclaim, a Mercury Prize nomination and an endorsement from the queen of pop Katy Perry is not a bad reception for a debut album. Jessie Ware took music by storm when she came out of nowhere to release one of the hottest debut albums of 2012 with 'Devotion'. For everybody who has kept an eye on her though, the real question is, where does she go from that?

The question is answered firmly when you first hit play and are introduced to the title track of her newest effort, lead single 'Tough Love'. The track is the first of Ware's that experiments with the South London singer's incredible vocal range as she soars into the opening lyrics with notes that are miles higher than the big notes she hit on her first album. This is a risk that to great success is taken over and over again throughout the album on songs such as 'Say You Love Me', 'Champagne Kisses' and 'Desire'.

It's not just the singing that has undergone a thoroughly beneficial makeover either. In hiring a new producer, Ware opts not to play it safe and go for the sound that she knows has made her popular. She instead takes her sophomore effort as a chance to try out new directions. This doesn't mean she throws out the classy, understated soul from the first album ('Cruel', 'Sweetest Song'). It just means that she tries out her voice on many new beats (even a classical feel on 'Pieces'), and more often than not, it pays off ('Want Your Feeling', 'Keep on Lying')

In going for broke and working hard to make an album that is bigger than 'Devotion', Ware made the right decision. She pushed herself to try out new things, she's gotten the opportunity to collaborate with new people and she's still preserved the sweet tint in her vocals that keep her fans coming back for more. The result? An album where every song is memorable, two top 40 singles (a feat she didn't managed once on her last album) and surely a place among the successful female British singers of this decade. Jessie Ware still has room to progress and I'm sure that even with this album as an excellent checkpoint, Ware will continue to push herself to do even better and aim even higher because she knows the meaning and the benefits of tough love.

9/10



Click here to watch the video for the album's most successful single 'Say You Love Me'

Review: No Sound Without Silence

No Sound Without Silence

'No Sound Without Silence' is the fourth album from Irish pop-rock outfit The Script.

Having spent much of their last three albums establishing themselves as a household name, the Script have finally reached the status of filling stadiums such as the Aviva in home town Dublin. In doing so, they've built up an atmospheric, epic and powerful tone to their largely soppy catalogue of music.  It's that tone that is apparent throughout the album, and all of a sudden, the listener realises that 'No Sound Without Silence' is no ordinary Script effort.

In defence of many critics, a good number of The Script's lyrical topic have remained the same. Many would argue that lead single 'Superheroes' is simply a younger sibling of 2012's 'Hall of Fame'. The difference is all in the musical direction. From the moment the electric guitars start blaring out on opening track 'No Good in Goodbye', it's clear to see that The Script have opted to shift towards the rock side of their pop-rock band status. This move will not only benefit their image, but also make their live shows that much more exciting, thrilling and compelling to watch.

There are eleven songs on the album and more than half of them are highlights in their own right. This is because each track is so uniquely crafted that it's almost impossible to compare each song to the others. Though '#3' only provided one top ten single, I think that somewhere between 'Man on a Wire', 'Paint the Town Green' and 'Hail, Rain or Sunshine', there is much more upcoming chart success for the band that has already scored a #2 with 'Superheroes' (see video below).

To conclude, there are many gems within The Script's music, but never have they released an album quite like this one. The album cuts straight to business with its atmospheric electric guitar set with Danny O' Donoghue's soaring vocals and across every track (as Danny promises on the fifth track) the energy never dies. For all those who have written this band off, it's time to take another look at them. There's more to these three Dubliners than even their most die hard fans could possibly imagine seeing, and there's even more room for them to keep growing and keep stunning everybody.

9.5/10



Click here to watch the incredible, inspirational video for the album's lead single 'Superheroes'