Paloma Faith - Fall to Grace

Seeing Faith in her numerous TV appearances since the release of 2009's Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful? was a bit of a culture shock. That a woman who injects so much tragedy and romance into her lyrics, wistful melancholy into her melodies and humility into her vocal performance could come across as she did in her Never Mind the Buzzcocks guest slots was quite surreal. It cemented her, however, as one of the nation's true eccentrics and her ditsy, zany sense of humour - much like Adele's talking voice - rather covers the best of both worlds (captivating performance and enigmatic chat show slots).

Her 2009 breakthrough was a little slow for me. Whilst she definitely enjoyed poppier moments and hits with Stone Cold Sober and Upside Down for me the real masterstroke of the album was the other single, New York. A fantastically poignant and wrought vocal, it was one of the year's best-written and most beautiful tracks for me. Here Faith gets a couple of lending hands from Eg White (What the Water Gave Me, Warwick Avenue), Greg Wells (Apologize), Aqualung and Al Shux (Empire State of Mind, Ill Manors), so the wobblier moments on her debut should, ideally, be ironed out.

Even from the album opener, and first single, 'Picking up the Pieces', the obvious direction the album takes is one of smoke-filled rooms and 1950s-inspired wistfulness. The single is thundered along by a quite pacy drumbeat but all attention is paid to the backing choirs, the crying chorus and the opening strings. A fantastic blend of performance and revelation, it does pose the album's first problematic question: is it all for show, or is there any truth to Paloma's anguish? She maintains that this "is a personal record about a period of her life", which makes tracks like '30 Minute Love Affair' all the more interesting. Documenting an encounter with a homeless man, she sings "When I went back he'd disappeared/ my hopeful smile had turned to tears" - and though it verges on the Phil Collins Another Day in Paradise realm of patronising, it's a sweet, simple little ballad. "I know a girl who drinks herself to sleep at night" she reveals on 'Black & Blue', revelling in the cinema and public tragedy of it all: the track itself is a subtle 2000s nostalgia piece with a strong chorus and little else.

Far more appealing, though, is the piano+voice formula behind 'Just Be' (I'm told it worked very well for another British female last year). "Let's be exposed and unprotected, let's see one another when we're weak" is a tell-tale sign of its honesty, and from there the track really shines in melody and vocal performance. Her attempts to merge the whole wall-of-sound pop (that resurfaced in British solo females around the time Duffy was relevant) with yet further modern sounds can be underwhelming, though: the slow garage beat on 'Let Me Down Easy' sounds too moody to be an interesting new backdrop. Disco however is always a good move, as seen in the Sophie Ellis-Bextor derived 'Blood Sweat & Tears'. Here we see Faith stripped back somehow, and it's a collaboration (with Don't Hold Your Breath writer Toby Gad) that works well. Its energy is all but drained though by the safe, predictable 'Beauty of the End' that slots a little too comfortably into a record collection that might contain VV Brown, Gabriella Cilmi and Pixie Lott's more dross stuff.

Again though the Adele effect works on 'When You're Gone', which pouts "everyone I've loved has left me lonely". The chorus' vocal melody is strong and memorable. 'Agony', whilst cute, is quite a blatant rip-off of Sia's Breathe Me piano tune, which is a shame. The vocal in the chorus, too, is a rip-off - of The Killers' Mr. Brightside. Classical meets dubstep on 'Let Your Love Walk In', invoking "Cupid, take your aim". 'Freedom', then, sees Faith doing a bit of an obvious A Change is Gonna Come impression before a much more compelling chorus. Even the ending 'Streets of Glory' gets a bit of a roll credits dashing of emotion and bombast, a fine and triumphant close.

I'm just not convinced that the record'll last long in the minds of the British public. The album is so liberally tarred with 1960s influences and nostalgia that, when coupled with the shrillness of her voice and the melodrama of it all, makes the whole album very difficult to digest in repeated streaks. Unlike Florence + the Machine's ability to upgrade from strings to synths, Faith's album at times feels little more than a convincing play. That said, were it not for the British people's unnerving and unwavering support for all things Gary Barlow (that fucking jubilee) she'd have achieved a #1 here, and deservedly so: the album contains wonderful songs, and far more ambitious balladry than even Adele.

Rating: 7/10
Highlights: Picking Up the Pieces, Just Be, When You're Gone, Streets of Glory, 30 Minute Love Affair
Avoid: Agony, Let Me Down Easy

Artwork Watch: Disaster struck as Vivienne Westwood's "Cthulhu" range was premiered in the Amazon.
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