Readers of a certain age will remember Alison Moyet, the chirpy Essex girl who started out in the synth-pop duo Yazoo and eventually made one of the bestselling albums of the 80s with her solo debut Alf. Having disappeared off the scene for the best part of a decade, a star turn in the West End musical Chicago has revitalised her career - and this new studio album is a surprisingly credible return to her jazz-blues roots. Musically it's much more adventurous than might have been expected, incorporating eerie church organs, harpsichords and voodoo grooves into a production that emphasises atmosphere over sheer vocal power. Sometimes that seems a shame, since Moyet has an imposingly soulful voice that could do with more breathing space than it's generally allowed here. But while her mostly self-written songs are variable in quality, the best of them draw on her troubled romantic experiences and are often powerfully affecting. A flawed album, then, but one that's certainly worthy of investigation.
