Katie Melua...The House(2010)[FLAC]

2010 The House [Digipak], [Gatefold] CD Dramatico DRAMCD0061

1 I'd Love to Kill You 2:57
2 The Flood 4:03
3 A Happy Place 3:27
4 A Moment of Madness 3:47
5 Red Balloons 4:20
6 Tiny Alien 4:36
7 No Fear of Heights 2:53
8 The One I Love Is Gone 3:38
9 Plague of Love 3:26
10 God on Drums, Devil on the Bass 3:48
11 Twisted 3:44
12 The House 5:00

On the final track of 2007ΓΓé¼Γäós Pictures, a cover of Leonard CohenΓΓé¼Γäós In My Secret Life, Katie Melua sang of missing a loved one. Three years on, she opens this fourth album with IΓΓé¼Γäód Love to Kill You: ΓΓé¼┼ôIΓΓé¼Γäód love to kill you as you eat / The pleasure would taste so sweetΓΓé¼┬¥. SheΓΓé¼Γäós said that The House may shock fans whoΓΓé¼Γäóve followed her since her 2003 breakthrough, and such lyrical wickedness might imply sheΓΓé¼Γäós been through quite the stylistic sea change.

As if. The House is as box-ticking of design as even the most fair-weather of fans should expect from an artist whoΓΓé¼Γäós never pushed at any creative envelope. At their worst these arrangements are lazy to the point of absolute stupor, as lively as a well-fed fatso snoozing in front of the QueenΓΓé¼Γäós Christmas speech. This should allow MeluaΓΓé¼Γäós voice to shine through, but she can sound racked by tracheal rigor mortis, a whisper escaping where a little more of the wow factor that first attracted the ears of Dramatico boss Mike Batt would have improved proceedings.

Batt, for the first time on a Melua album, makes no appearance (save for a single co-write) ΓΓé¼ΓÇ£ in his place William Orbit produces, and former Robbie Williams collaborator Guy Chambers contributes to several songs. This new line-up hasnΓΓé¼Γäót led to a considerable shift of dynamic, many songs contentedly shuffling at a mid-tempo pace. This is meant as no slight: Melua is the kind of artist who responds to demand, rather than one who writes to challenge her audience. As such The House is largely a success ΓΓé¼ΓÇ£ those boxes, ticked. But itΓΓé¼Γäós disappointing that sheΓΓé¼Γäós not edged that little further from her comfort zone given the promise of surprises.

Highlights are apparent, though. The Flood, the albumΓΓé¼Γäós lead single, is a polished arrangement that reins in the temptation for bombast and is better for its restraint. Red Balloons, a co-write with Polly Scattergood, is so delicate the listener might want to hold their breath for its duration, for fear that exhaling would shatter its frail form. And when MeluaΓΓé¼Γäós vocals convey real intimacy and vulnerability, such as on the closing title-track, she engages the listener with a rarefied grace.

When Melua reveals this sensitive side sheΓΓé¼Γäós amongst the best artists in her easy-on-the-ear field, and she could yet surpass several of her own idols. But The House contains enough forgettable filler to suggest sheΓΓé¼Γäós some way off delivering a career-defining canon classic.

cd ripped by dBpoweramp

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http://dickthespic.org/2010/12/03/katie-melua/