New albums reviewed: Sam Smith, Pnau, Guy Sebastian, Kelly Clarkson

What’s the new Sam Smith album like? Are Kelly Clarkson and Guy Sebastian the best Idol exports ever? Are Pnau still making bangers? Are Weezer making clangers? Our reviewers tell all

Pull up a chair. Sam Smith leads our reviews of the best new albums worth your time. Picture: EMI

DOUBLE happiness — the best albums released last week and this week reviewed below

SAM SMITH

The Thrill of It All (EMI)

4 stars

THANK you to the gentlemen who trampled Sam Smith’s heart since the last time we shared his pain. Your loss is our gain. Again.

Mr Smith’s success is simple — he’s got one of those pure voices (like his heroes Adele, Amy, Whitney and George) that cuts deep and fast with surgical precision. You don’t need tricks when you’ve got honesty and believability, especially in an era of filters and fakery.

The musical template of In the Lonely Hour (14 million sales in the era when no one actually buys albums)hasn’t been deviated from greatly. His trusty sidekick Jimmy Napes is still working magic, but with a few new collaborators. Malay (Frank Ocean) adds to the haunting beauty of waiting-to-drop-the-L-word quiet storm Say It First and the slow burn soul of Midnight Train, about jettisoning yourself from a relationship.

Timbaland co-produces Pray, which taps into the gospel influence throughout — a choir sings ‘no’ as Sam Smith talks about not going to church or reading the bible. The choir colour in the blues on Nothing Left For You — a leap from when Smith used technology to become his own choir on Stay With Me.

Please be seated: Sam Smith has some songs of love and loss to share. Picture: EMI

Binge watching the Muscle Shoals soul documentary and having Aretha on repeat bleeds into the joyous retro of One Last Song (accompanied by fairly miserable lyrics, even by Smith’s standards) — it samples Be a Lion from The Wiz to up the camp factor. Baby, You Make Me Crazy also has Motown on the mind and gives this album some much-needed Winehouse retro party vibes.

Smith could have got an A-lister for the powerful less-is-more duet No Peace (are we ready for him to sing a love song with another male artist?) but gives newcomer YEBBA an enormous break (being signed by Ed Sheeran wouldn’t have hurt either), while Palace (another bare bones minimal moment) features US country singer, Cam adding to the mood.

The album’s heart comes courtesy Him — it’s sadly still a brave statement for an openly gay A-list star with the ear of the world to write openly about being in love with a man. Smith even brings religion into the mix — “don’t you try and tell me God doesn’t care for us, it is him I love” with the choir back to join the celebration. It’s a coming out song and one that, again sadly, we need more than ever.

Him, which also doubles as a hymn, could actually save a life. Plus, it’s like Massive Attack meets Marvin Gaye, so, therefore, tune.

Smith has committed to the mood here. There’s no really upbeat moment, but plenty of downbeat moments designed to showcase his vocals and his truth. Which is why we’re here. His work with Disclosure shows he’s got a Fast Love or Too Funky in him, but there’s plenty of time for upbeat once he’s done with being the Prince of Pain. Like his idols Sam Smith is playing the long game.

VERDICT That honesty policy continues to work for him

CAMERON ADAMS

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GEORGE MICHAEL

Older

AMY WINEHOUSE

Back to Black

Elton’s mates Pnau have skipped the clangers and gone for bangers. Picture: Etc Etc

PNAU

Changa (Etc Etc)

4 stars

Pnau’s last album in 2011 snapped and faded overnight like a glowstick. Mentor Elton John had insisted they make Soft Universe to showcase Nick Littlemore’s vocals. But fans skipped it and the band took it pretty hard. On their fourth LP, Changa, Pnau play to strengths, abandoning a focus on Littlemore’s lush‘n’lite vocals to bring in Kira Divine and a tropical, fantastical Cirque De Soleil vibe. Jacking single Chameleon got them back in the game (an old raver texted me: “Pnau song is sick, reminds me of going out back in the day. Better than the weak s--- on the radio”) and Changa is full of rejuvenating cuts radio should play. It’s a euphoric, eccentric record: sexy, flirty disco, piano house, trance touches and magic, mellifluous vocals — the most unique instrument of all.

Pnau have fresh legs off the bench in Divine and Sam Littlemore has joined the fray too (fresh ears). He brings his nightclub nous (ex-Tonite Only) and irony-free approach to main room thumpers: Go Bang and Chameleon.

Young Melody feat. Vera Blue harks back to the song that was the catalyst for Empire Of the Sun: With You Forever. Young Melody shimmers on a velcro-tight 4/4 beat, it’s like getting acupuncture in Fiji. You’ll feel elevated and free in less than four minutes. Please Forgive Me builds on Inner City house keys and then throws off the shackles with a true falsetto drop, chiming with a steel drum. Littlemore’s voice has rarely sounded more textured. Being Pnau, he can’t help himself on Into the Sky, a loosey-goosy indie pop song. The second half of the record raises the pulse: Nothing In the World and Control Your Body are here to take you to the afterparty and “no” isn’t an option. Wonderful news, then, Pnau are healthy and armed with club hits to show they’re up for the kick-on.

VERDICT Chameleons change colours Pnau and forever

MIKEY CAHILL

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HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR

Hercules & Love Affair

MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS

Dystopia

Guy Sebastian is getting reflective and experimental on Conscious. Picture: Sony Music

GUY SEBASTIAN

Conscious (Sony)

3.5 stars

EIGHT albums in and our Guy’s bored by restrictive, short-lived pop formulas and here he sounds giddy and high on the experimentation today’s best pop thrives on. Vesuvius is all minimal electro beats and on-point vocals (if Drake released it it’d be No. 1 by now) and Something, a Prince-meets-Diplo soul-baring digi-ballad. High On Me is sun-kissed pop-funk; Drink Driving (a metaphor for intoxicating love, before the outrage kicks in) is one of the many carnal moments. And he may well be the first person to rhyme “breakfast” with “Netflix”. CA

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WEEZER
Pacific Daydream (Atlantic)

1.5 stars

Add Weezer to bands like RHCP who should really throw in the towel. Nobody needs this rock-lite record, full of stock, redundant lines “I need happy hour on Sunday” from the once-great Rivers Cuomo. This was the same guy who sang “I’m so tired of haaaving sex” and made our neck-hairs prick up with his Fender growls. On their 10th album, Cuomo and band are trying to cook a porterhouse steak using a Bunsen burner, chopsticks and a roll of alfoil. Move on, guys. MC

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TY DOLLA $IGN

Beach House 3 (WARNER)

3 stars

Cali singer/rapper/producer Ty Dolla $ign impressed with 2015’s expansive debut, Free TC. But this follow-up – its cover art evoking ‘90s chill-out comps – feels more like one of his transitory mixtapes. Swelling with super-producers (Pharrell Williams, Skrillex) and features (the never-sleeps Future), the vibe is smooth, breezy, Auto-Tuned trop&B. Famous, an acoustic guitar jam, introduces a theme beloved by pop’s swaggiest superstars – celebrity lyf. Hookiest are the singles Love U Better (with Lil Wayne and The-Dream plus Yeezy-esque chipmunk samples) and So Am I (Skrilly’s take on reggae, blessed by Damian Marley). Ty$ gets deepest on Message In A Bottle. CYCLONE WEHNER

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KELLY CLARKSON

Meaning of Life (Atlantic)

3.5 stars

KELLY Clarkson’s days of compromise are over — album No. 8 finally sounds like the one she was born to make. It’s retro but modern. The title track and Didn’t I are Aretha meets Beyonce and drip with soul. Would You Call That Love is Adele gone (slightly) urban and I Don’t Think About You is a grown-up breakup song. Heat is the slamming pop gem her contemporaries would kill for — except few could sing it like Clarkson. See also the vocal tour de force on ballad Move You or bedroom lover’s jam Slow Dance. She may suffer commercially in the short term by not going to the obligatory hitmakers for the obligatory hit, but been there, done that ... CA

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Hey y’all, Kelly Clarkson has finally made the album she’s always wanted to. Picture: Getty Images

SAMPA THE GREAT
Birds & the BEE9 (Big Dada)

4 stars

Poet, MC and singer Sampa the Great has the scene swooning. Born in Zambia, but based in Melbourne, she’s following 2015’s The Great Mixtape with this offering via the UK’s legendary Ninja Tune stable. Birds and the BEE9 traverses groovy neo-soul, jazz-hop and gospel (the sublime single Bye River). Yet, for Sampa, music is about exploring and manifesting identity. Most powerful are those cosmic songs of self-affirmation such as Protect Your Queen and Black Girl Magik. Majestic. CW

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Want something soulful and homegrown? Try Sampa The Great. Picture: Big Dada