If Paloma Faith hadn’t trumpeted The Architect as her “political with a small ‘p’” album, it might sound just like another big, brassy retro soul collection about love and heartache. It’s far from obvious that the swaggering Guilty apparently expresses the thoughts of a regretful Brexit voter (“I’m living in my worst fears / Begging you back through tears”). Samuel L Jackson’s opening monologue about revolution is far more direct than the subsequent title track’s oblique apparent references to domestic violence. Owen Jones’s rousing speech about the politics of hope leads only to the wishy-washy Kings and Queens.
However, there’s plenty of the big-voiced, Amy Winehouse/Lisa Stansfield-type pop that saw Faith’s first three albums go double platinum. The John Legend duet I’ll Be Gentle is trademark classy schmaltz and the Sia-penned Warrior addresses refugees on the vaguest terms. Nobody will storm parliament after hearing this, but Faith’s heart’s in the right place.
