John Newman - Tribute

I feel like I've been stuck on repeat this year writing about the surge of UK dance music culminating in 2012's monster hit Feel the Love with Rudimental. 2013 has been tasked with seeing these hitmakers make official introductions with their debut albums, and the first of our two prominent male guest vocalists (the other being Sam Smith) to emerge with an LP is Yorkshireman John Newman.

At 23 years of age he's not quite in that bracket of annoying little things touted as a prodigy by the tabloids (see: Jake Bugg) but he's not exactly world-weary yet. One would hope. He's got enough behind him, though, to start off with a bow to his past:

This record is a culmination of my life to this point, it's who I am and I wanted to thank everyone who has helped, supported, loved me and been an inspiration to me. [*]

Indeed, this sense of debt to those who came before the Newman (I'm sorry, but it was a pun that needed to be made) is clear on its opening title track: a minute and a half passes by of name-dropping influential voices like Wilson Pickett, the Temptations and Jimmy Cliff. A slow string piece lets this unfold with the assistance of radio static and intermittent reminders of decades, before we properly begin with claims that "it's all for you, for what you have made me". It's quite a sweet arrangement, but it pales next to 'Love Me Again', his debut chart-topping single made with Mercy songwriter Steve Booker. It's an instant classic, and is one of the year's most memorable vocal performances - but its charm lies in that magic combination of saxophone, violins and pianos that can't help but rouse you to your feet. 'Losing Sleep' has a similarly resonant delivery and quite the strong melody.

Elsewhere, the arrangements aren't quite so bewitching: 'Easy', whilst somewhat pretty, gets a bit bogged down in Adeleisms and the piano refrain to 'Out of My Head' is essentially that Bronski Beat tune put through a melodrama wrangle. Second single also 'Cheating' has an immediate "oh isn't that ____?" moment and I can't shake off its semblances to Chris Isaak's Wicked Game - in fact, the track could quite easily have appeared on Mark Ronson's awful Versions album.

For all of my complaints about treading too close to the Britsoul movement, there are examples of Newman's ability to meld into others: 'Try' has strong traces of Happy Mondays rave about its pianos, 'Gold Dust' uses Tim Woodcock's (No Worries, Skinny Genes) ear for a fine pop song to great effect, and album closer 'All I Need is You' is an ambitious Beatles revival that just works on every front. "I'm the rising force you will never tame/ the glowing cause you will not contain/ I'm fighting to be free" is its message, and for all of this year's believe-in-yourself lyrics put out by popstars there are few delivered with as much actual belief as Newman.
 

I must admit that I'm looking forward to Sam Smith's record a little more - but this isn't a competition between the two. Newman's slotted in quite nicely into that Northern Soul revival trend that's been going since 2008's Duffy debut and Plan B not long after; the problem is that this isn't exactly an idiosyncratic record. Newman may be a little better off trying something different than paying tribute to his heroes, but at least he's made a debut that shows great promise, and he remains a formidable talent.

Rating: 7/10
Highlights: Love Me Again; All I Need is You; Try; Gold Dust; Losing Sleep
Avoid: Easy

Artwork Watch: If we could just go a month without Great Gatsby line designs that would be lovely.
For fans of: Plan B; Bastille; Daniel Merriweather
Up next: Sky Ferreira