At the turn of the decade, Clare Maguire was loudly touted as the heir to Amy Winehouse and Adele, and courted by the likes of Jay Z and Rick Rubin. Her debut album, however, turned out to be a collection of characterless power ballads, and the buzz faded. Now she has returned with the record she probably should have made in the first place: a collection of classy, retro pop that showcases her chameleonic voice. It’s not a style that holds a huge amount of excitement any more, as indicated by the album’s more banal junctures, such as the rather stale Elizabeth Taylor and various cod-Adele moments. But Maguire proves it can still be startlingly fruitful – most evidently in the minimal, doomy blues of Falling Leaves, but hinted at in other tracks which seem to reference everything from Nico’s frosty folk and Desire-era Dylan to Beatlesesque pop and Paul Williams’s understatedly beautiful songwriting.
