Taio Cruz, Departure

British R&B is often accused of being in thrall to its American counterpart - an argument that often puts the genre into a Catch-22 situation, where those who follow American styles end up as poor imitations and those who don't throw the baby out with the bathwater by wringing the fun out of their music as well. Taio Cruz sidesteps the dilemma with aplomb: his vision ties R&B to the UK's long tradition of commercial house. This isn't only manifest in the 4/4 beats and electronic focus; the album is absolutely drenched in wonderfully camp disco strings - at one point Cruz even ushers them in with the spoken instruction "Strings!". Cruz's own swooping vocals are most reminiscent of Seal; Never Gonna Get Us seems permanently on the verge of segueing into Crazy. Though somewhat lacking in low end at times (Cruz should learn about the virtues of a heavy bassline), this is a stylish, inventive debut.