One Breath by Anna Calvi

Twickenham based singer songwriter Anna Calvi enjoyed a lot of success with her debut album back in 2011. The album even managed to gain a Mercury Prize nomination that year which is pretty outstanding seeing as only a handful of artists get Mercury Prize nominations. So how does Anna Calvi’s second album shape up? Does it produce the same magic that the first album did? Or does it suffer from the dreaded second album syndrome?

Anna Calvi has a seductive, silky like quality to her voice that sometimes erupts into these high powerful notes. Imagine a 50’s pin up girl singing  for the seductive, silky part and then imagine a female Thom Yorke when he sings that really high, long note in “Creep” for the powerful part. If you said that Anna Calvi had a lot of contrast in her singing style then you could be correct. Her voice is a lot like the album in a contrasting type of way because a lot of the songs on it start off with barely anything and then they become really rich with textures and sounds.

“Suddenly” kicks things off with reverb guitars, vibrato vocals and one hell of a vocal hook. Florence Welch would surely be jealous of the amount of vibrato vocals going on in the “ahh” vocal hook in the chorus. Seriously, Florence Welch is well known for her vibrato voice but Anna Calvi takes it to another level on this track. “Eliza” starts off quietly in the verses but then powerfully erupts for the chorus a la “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.  “Piece by Piece” is a flirtatious yet nostalgic sounding song that blends gorgeous plucked notes with zany guitar work. “Cry” is a slightly uncomfortable listen because its texture picks up so randomly without any warning; it really makes you jump out of your skin.

There are also a few slower tracks on the album that contain absolutely lavish string sections that the likes of Mozart and Beethoven would probably enjoy if they were around in the 21^st century. These songs include “Sing to me” and “One Breath”, in fact the string sections towards the end of these songs are actually very reminiscent of the ones in the Radiohead track “How To Disappear Completely” from their “Kid A” album. The build up to the string sections are superb also. “Carry me over” contains a string section too but it varies from sounding scary to absolutely heavenly. Like “Cry”, “Carry Me Over” is slightly uncomfortable to listen to at times but it has its genius moments too in its 5 and a half minute duration.

Other tracks include “Tristan” which contains bouncy acoustic guitars and vocal sing along hooks galore. “Love Of My Life” is “Goo” era Sonic Youth with its noise guitar riffs and Kim Gordon-esque vocals. “Bleed Into Me” and “The Bridge” are ghostly sounding songs that close the album very well. They are a nice change from the rest of the songs on the album.

“One Breath” is an album that certainly takes more than one listen to appreciate it. This is because it often builds up in texture a lot and sometimes this texture can be unpredictable and unsettling. Once you are on your fourth or fifth listen though you will know when the rich, instrumental textures appear and this makes for a rewarding listen because you persevered. Overall, yes this album does produce its magic moments and no it doesn't suffer from the dreaded second album syndrome.

OVERALL RATING: 7/10

BEST TRACKS: Suddenly, Piece By Piece, One Breath.
WORST TRACK: Cry.