Paloma Faith
A Perfect Contradiction
(RCA)
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It's fitting that the cover art for A Perfect Contradiction sees Paloma Faith deepen her long-standing acquaintance with the dressing-up box. Much of the Hackney, North London-born singer's third album is a leap of, well, faith, but she just about passes as a feisty Harlem gal on the Pharrell Williams-produced Can't Rely on You, and a latter-day Ronnie Spector on the hookey, Motown-indebted Only Love Can Hurt Like This. The latter song was written by American pop's hit-making éminence grise, Diane Warren, and elsewhere, too, there are signs that Faith is aiming to broaden her transatlantic appeal. John Legend co-wrote the zesty, Jackson 5-aware Take Me, while the fretboard fireworks on Love Only Leaves You Lonely are an obvious nod to that most cocksure of guitarists, Prince. Though Faith's ever-malleable voice sounds classy throughout the album, her natural theatricality perhaps gets in the way of some genuine emotion. While 2012's Fall to Grace felt like a heart-on-sleeve coming of age, A Perfect Contradiction feels more like an inconsequential, if highly enjoyable, stage musical.
artslife@thenational.ae
