Katy B - Little Red

Being from a shitty little part of the country where your only chance of spotting a live act is either a bunch of amateurs or the Wurzels (if they fall into a separate category), the opportunity to catch Katy B towards the end of my time at university was a godsend... until she cancelled. I haven't quite recovered.

The release of Little Red, Brien's second full LP, has done well to drown those sorrows. On our first glimpses way back in 2013, (I'm aware I'm now half a year between albums being released and me reviewing them. Sorry.) the signs were promising; first single 5AM revived the fantastic party that Katy on a Mission and Witches Brew had thrown, whilst follow-up Crying for no Reason introduced a startlingly vulnerable new side to her sound that should - if there's any justice - cement Katy B as one of those go-to names for outstanding examples of British talent. I'm not holding out for an Adele-style takeover but you get my gist.

Production-wise there's little to fear about this if you're still somehow in the transition phase between On a Mission and Little Red; aside from the departure of Magnetic Man it's much the same. Rinse FM (and Rinse Recordings) head DJ Geeneus remains at the helm, and the guests are similarly exciting.

'Next Thing' just about asserts that no time's passed between 2011 and now. Serial hit-producers the Invisible Men - Iggy Azalea's Fancy and Work, Jessie J's Do It Like a Dude, DJ Fresh's Hot Right Now among others - helm a raucous and rousing house anthem that kicks off the album in fine style, with Katy's stuttering spoken delivery making this all the more hypnotic. The same can be said of '5AM', although it's far more exploitative of Brien's vocal range and brimming with pop hooks. Indeed, the first glimpse of anything that might be construed as something other than a continuation of what made her a name in the first place is 'Aaliyah', a track with Jessie Ware lifted from Katy's own Danger EP from 2012; here, the two drift in and out of a stubborn, throbbing beat with little else to inspire us to hit the dancefloor. The textbook is then thrown entirely out of the window on 'Crying For No Reason', Brien's first ever true 'ballad'. Her voice stretches triumphantly to unexpected Robynesque highs and - as though possessed by the queen of sad electropop herself - remains, although soon surrounded by a blasting, chilling arrangement, the biggest instrument she owns.

Alas, it's a trick she only pulls off once on Little Red; instead, we're thrown back into Italo-house waters on 'I Like You', the sort of track you'd have found on On a Mission and the sort of track that's inspired 2014 to become this annum of one-off hits from DJs whose names you struggle to recall. That's its strength and its weakness, I guess: it passes quite politely and nicely until the end of the third minute where a metallic, intrusive synth is thrown into the mix and reminds you there's an album here, not just a series of singles. Cuts like 'All My Lovin'' and 'Tumbling Down' would never stand a chance on the Radio 1 playlist but here, as part of a group of likeminded songs, they do their job finely and again prove Brien's credentials as an emotive, powerful performer and recording artist. Admittedly, some lyrics do inspire those stopping-in-the-middle-of-dancing moments where you wonder if you actually just heard what you heard: "All I want, all I want is for you to be okay/ I know that soon there'll be a brighter day" is a sentiment on 'Everything', an otherwise solid anthem that could've quite comfortably slipped onto Disclosure's album.

Best known for being sampled/featured by Drake on his most recent LP, Sampha Sisay lends a sort-of-nice, sort-of-flat (and irritatingly so?) vocal to 'Play', a pretty and chilled jam that could've just as easily as served as a summer hit for someone like Estelle were these indeed the noughties. With 'Sapphire Blue' we're again left a little unsure whether to throw arms around or drive around moodily to it, and at least 'Emotions' asserts itself as a stellar ballad. Like Crying for no Reason before it, it does tease us with the possibility of that chorus leading up to one almighty drop, but instead opts for falling apart entirely and rebuilding, stronger each verse. It would serve sublimely as an album climax but instead we're left to mull over 'Still', an uncomfortably safe dud that would immediately be deleted from one's iTunes were there not a quite capable vocal performance to go with it. It's passable, in a Paloma Faith way.

Maturity is one of those buzzwords that immediately connects in your head as a less rude way of suggesting that an artist has become dull. It's also one that's going to go hand-in-hand with thoughts regarding Katy B's sophomore effort, and whilst there're fewer out-and-out hits in the making here to tuck into, the suggestion that this is in anyway disappointing is laughable. Here, Katy B establishes herself as an artist with endurance power, and makes sure she isn't going to be a passing fad.

Rating: 8/10
Highlights: Crying for No Reason; 5AM; Emotions; Next Thing; Aaliyah
Avoid: n/a (but I'm quite liable to skip Tumbling Down)

Artwork Watch: 10/10. Would look at again. Hand looks a little foetusy though.
Up next: Wild Beasts