Album review: Anna Calvi, One Breath (Domino)

 

Andy Gill
Thursday 03 October 2013 12:29 EDT
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On her second album, Anna Calvi has lost much of the distinctive guitar work that helped make her debut so intriguing, but gained a deeper breadth of texture and structure to carry her emotional excursions. At first, it seems as if she's gone for a full-blown populist rock sound: "Suddenly" opens with predatory verses before erupting into the full Florence on the choruses; "Eliza" seems too simple a stomp. But things improve: "Piece by Piece" blends sleek strings with bursts of de-tuned guitar, and there's a lovely discordant twang to the guitar fills on "Cry". "Carry Me Over" offers the album's most compelling arrangement, climaxing with expansive strings and industrious marimba supporting Calvi's wordless wailing.

Download: Carry Me Over; Cry; Piece by Piece

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