Four years on from the Scottish soul soprano’s breakbeats and gospel debut, and following a divorce from her teenage beau, Sandé’s second album shifts into the more downbeat territory of lovelorn confessionals. The former medical student makes plenty of references to physical discomfort – bones shake and ligaments tear on Selah; by the end of the thunderous Hurts she’s shivering with pain. But a repetitive wash of acoustic guitars and consoling choirs dull the emotion, and Sandé is too polite to go for the jugular. Her voice still powers through the octaves, but she sounds more comfortable and less exposed on Garden, with rapper Jay Electronica playing the earthy foil to her wounded angel.
