Dami Im, Billy Bragg, Sea Fever: New album reviews

We won’t be seeing her on Celebrity MasterChef any more, but Dami Im isn’t through entertaining us PLUS Billy Bragg and Sea Fever.

Dami Im says her new album shows her authentic self.

This week’s album reviews from The Courier-Mail (ratings out of five stars):

POP

Dami Im, My Reality

(ABC) ***

The sometime Eurovision and reality star from Logan has returned to her first love – composing and recording music – with her first original studio album in seven years. And it shows her growth both as an artist and a person. Opener Pray has gospel overtones as she sings hallelujah. “You’re scared if you get too close you’ll hurt someone,” she notes on the boppy Lonely Cactus, while Marching On pays tribute to a late role model and piano ballad Memories deals with leaving a childhood home. Her vocal flexibility is on full display for the girl power affirmation Paper Dragon, while on the introspective Alone she observes: “My world gets smaller the older I get.” “We need something to burn for,” she sings on closer Fire, replete with backing harmonies.

ALT-COUNTRY

Billy Bragg, The Million Things That Never Happened

(Cooking Vinyl) ***

The ’80s alternative darling continues his country leaning on this 13th studio album, in which he tries not to be bound by the politics of the past. The forlorn organ strains and restrained guitar and piano of Lonesome Ocean evoke a wandering sail-itude. Bluegrassy ditty Freedom Doesn’t Come For Free is a cautionary tale of the value of social contracts, making an example of New Hampshire’s libertarian experiment: “Live free or die tryin’/You might get eaten by a mountain lion.” One of the least folksy sounding tracks, The Buck Doesn’t Stop Here No More, eviscerates Trump’s America: “There can be no liberty if one man rules with impunity.” And he confronts mortality on Pass It On: “Those we remember are never gone.”

ELECTRONIC

Sea Fever, Folding Lines

(Kartel) ****

Not only do Sea Fever continue the great tradition of Manchester bands, they’ve got pedigree: members of New Order, Joy Division and Johnny Marr’s band feature, as does Section 25’s Beth Cassidy. The NO/JD influences are obvious, and there are parallels with other new-wave pioneers such as Visage. Opener Crossed Wires has an eerie drone, while Afterthought showcases Iwan Gronow’s higher range. Meanwhile, vocals are shared on the title track. The album salutes the artists’ new-wave heritage: Le Coup is part Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax, part ABC’s Poison Arrow, while De Facto has a Pet Shop Boys or Human League dancefloor vibe. Penultimate The Finder is staticky and subdued, while on Programme Your Life with its tuneful harmonies they implore: “Stick to the programme... believe.”

Originally published as Dami Im, Billy Bragg, Sea Fever: New album reviews