Corinne Bailey Rae is back on the music scene after a five year hiatus with her new album The Heart Speaks In Whispers. I have personally been waiting to hear new music from her and I am genuinely pleased with this album. This album displays an exceptional amount of growth for Corinne. The production value on this album is amazing, it caters to the simple, but sweet vocals of the songs, and enhances the lyrics .
One of my favorite tracks on this is “Walk On”, with its soothing, calm Neo-Soul influence. It’s a song that marches to the beat of its own drum. Corinne sounds completely at peace with past turmoil. The drums really drive this song!
“Caramel” is another favorite. The song is a bittersweet song about coming out on the other side of strife. It’s a powerful ballad, and I managed to completely lose myself in it.
“Hey I won’t break your heart” is another ballad that I fell in love with. It’s a song about forgiveness. Introduced with a guitar and small choir-like backgrounds, the song grows as the seconds pass; soon you find yourself listening to a full sounding mid-tempo tune .
“High” is probably the best song on the album. This piano-driven song ties the whole album together in my opinion. “High” lifts the tone of the whole album and starts to lead you out, leaving you uplifted and satisfied .
There are a couple of other songs on the album that are album-fillers, in my opinion but I can still listen to them without skipping. “Do you ever think of me” is one of these songs, but only because it’s yet another ballad in an album overflowing with them.
The last song on this album is “Push On for The Dawn”. It’s a much needed mid-tempo song for an album ruled by ballads. The song is fabulous! The pure vocal talent on this song is mesmerizing; couple that with the well-balanced production of it, and you have a radio single.
I am very pleased with this album. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a very easy album to make compromises for. I would have loved for the album to have a few uptempo songs, but I went expecting Corinne Bailey Rae, and that’s exactly what I got. I have to give this album a B. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I have!
