This was released on the 17th January and I had been tipped and persuaded to listen to Anna Calvi's work long before the release by some very in the know personages. Did I take their advice? No and I wish I had. It's impossible to listen to everything and so I am fortunate that I was lucky enough to be sent her debut album otherwise I would have missed out big time on a potential new star and hot new artist at the least, so props to D¬ who was plugging Calvi to me a year ago; you were more than right :-) - and this is what I think after listening to the album;
There is an air of the understatement to this release. It's very simple. Calvi has a great voice with terrific range and the producers have quite rightly chosen to exploit this to the maximum. So above everything else you can hear Calvi's voice. It dominates the recording because it has been mixed that way and this is to it's advantage. The music really seems to be in the background, even on a lively and energetic song like 'Suzanne And I' where her voice is even more powerful, yet not overwhelming, than the intense drums and guitar.
The backing band really just do their job with subtlety leaving Calvi's voice to shine and shine it does. 'Fist We Kiss' is another sumptuous example of this intelligent, authoritative voice in action.
I don't think we have seen or heard the best of Calvi yet but this debut is more than good and deserves all the praise it gets. I think there is more to come that will be even better from an artists who could have an incredible career in front of her.
5/5
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