Rachel Keen has spent the past half-decade working overtime behind the pop scenes – lending her songwriting skills to various megastars (Beyoncé, Ellie Goulding, Little Mix), and her cool, assured vocals to a series of house DJs (Jax Jones, Martin Solveig, Jonas Blue). Now, the south Londoner is making a concerted effort to reroute her talents into her own steadily blossoming solo career, with a release that in less complicated times might have been billed as her debut album (the nine-track record is either her first “mini album”, or fifth EP, depending who you ask).
One thing Euphoric Sad Songs really has going for it is clarity: juxtaposing dancefloor-friendly beats and buoyant melodies with tales of romantic devastation, this is a record that does exactly what it says on the tin. Moving from desperate pleas to her ex to take her back (Love Me Again) to desperate pleas to a rival not to take her man (the Jolene-inspired Natalie Don’t), the almost masochistic levels of vulnerability, honesty and intimacy on show here allow Raye to transcend her usual pipes-for-hire role. Yet the sound itself feels far less distinctive and personal – a frequently generic dance-pop that is well-rendered and consistently pleasant, if not particularly compelling. It’s an approach that may well pay off when it comes to chart placings – Secrets, a collaboration with Kosovan DJ Regard, has already reached the Top 10 – but for Raye to really distinguish herself as a thrilling solo proposition, the music of Euphoric Sad Songs could do with taking inspiration from the arrestingly messy intensity of its emotional core.
