Who knows why it’s taken Sweden’s Snoh Aalegra so long to be noticed by the general public. She was first signed at the age of 14 in 2001, and though that deal came to nothing, and no music appeared for another eight years, she’s made good on her early promise, picking up shout-outs from luminaries such as Common, Vince Staples and Drake over a series of EPs and 2017’s overdue debut, Feels.
The first album earned her justifiable comparisons with Amy Winehouse, and they stand up here, especially on the nostalgic Find Someone Like You, with its choppy piano chords. But this entertainingly-titled second collection is more likely to find her filed alongside Erykah Badu for its sultry, sparse R&B grooves. I Want You Around, in particular, is full of honeyed vocals, jazzy Rhodes piano and understated rimshots, and the future soul of Toronto is equally economical, leaving her voice, accompanied by tasteful guitar lines, room to soar. In fact, her vocals shine throughout, whether on brief, bass-heavy Be Careful, the playful, De La Soul-evoking Nothing To Me, the trilling, enchanting Situationship, or Here Now, which highlights how she can suck the air out of a note, then breathe life back into it.
7/10
Wyndham Wallace
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