Leeds singer-songwriter, Corinne Bailey Rae became a best seller when she released her self-titled debut album in 2006. The Sea, the follow-up to her million-selling debut, is a dramatic departure.
'He’s a real live-wire; he’s the best of his kind, wait till you see those eyes…’ These are the first lines she sings, in a husky, under-the-covers voice, on Are You Here, the opening song from her mesmerising and heartbreaking second album, The Sea.
Corinne is describing her husband Jason Rae, who died of an accidental drug and alcohol overdose in 2008 while she was writing this album. Following a year out, she returns with an album that is deeper, rawer, and emotion-imbued, one that plumbs the depths of her sadness but also embraces a new seize-the-day positivity.
Some songs pre-date his death, but, with a few unexpected, charming exceptions, all sound elegiac. Some of it is positively neck hair-raising, most notably the title track but also ‘The Blackest Lily’ and the haunting ‘Are You Here’.
She seems lost in a daydream, wistfully recalling a quarrel on ‘I'd Do it All Again’, and distantly wondering how she'll look back on her own life on the slow-building ‘Love's On Its Way’.
The Sea is no self-indulgent offering, even at its bleakest the music and melodies draw you in, even allowing for occasional swoops into blandish neo-soul, Rae has made an album she'll have trouble improving on.
Track listing:
1 Are You Here
2 I'd Do It All Again
3 Feels like the First Time
4 The Blackest Lily
5 Closer
6 Loves’ on Its Way
7 I Would Like to Call It Beauty
8 Paris Nights/New York Mornings
9 Paper Dolls
10 Diving for Hearts
11 The Sea
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