Published at 07:00
ALBUM Sienna Spiro sometimes stands in the way of herself in her soaring ambitions to become the next Adele. But as a debut album, “Visitor” promises a lot.
Here are some of July’s rainiest and most fleeting ballads.
Sienna Spiro
“Visitor”
Capitol/Universal
SOUL POP Britain has a long tradition of retro-tinged soul singers. Two decades ago did Amy Winehouse imprints that are still felt today. Recently filled Olivia Dean Avicii Arena. Not long before that played Raye in the same place.
Now the turn has come Sienna Spirowho introduced himself to the Swedish audience at the Rosendal Garden Party just a few weeks ago.
With her voluminous hairstyle, swinging soprano and Francoise Hardy-aesthetics, the 20-year-old snorts hastily at autotune in interviews. Colored by growing up in Enfield, London there Frank Sinatra’s and Nina Simone’s voices filled the living room, she cultivates the universal myth of herself as someone who slips into jazz clubs in New York.
After an obligatory viral Tiktok start to his career, the polka-dotted breakthrough ballad “Die on this hill” took the charts by storm. On the full-length debut, Spiro collaborates with, among others Omer Fedi (Sam Smith, SZA) and Michael Pollack (Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber).
In the sedated universe of the British, love is doomed from the start. Dusty Springfields version of “I think it’s gonna rain today” played on a dusty gramophone. The singer looks blankly out the window. He just pulled, didn’t even leave a note.
Where the music is reminiscent of the parents’ record collection, the lyrics feel anchored in the present. The opening track is about a young woman’s struggle against bodily ideals. “We’re not in love” sounds like a more sophisticated version of Lily Allen’s “Fuck you”.
“Pure” is an acoustic ballad about depression with features of both Radioheads “Creep” and Olivia Rodrigowhose songwriting is increasingly emerging as a beacon for young, female artists. The graceful title track, like the album as a whole, revolves around impermanence, the unfathomable sadness that sooner or later everything comes to an end.
There are moments on “Visitor” when the big budget gets in the way of the music, when the music is purposefully aiming for the charts. The finale “Mono no aware”, on the other hand, points to a mildly melancholy and potentially jazzy future that brings to mind Billie Holiday fantastic album “Solitude”.
Much is also saved by the voice.
It has the same suffering and rampant desperation as Adele. An instrument that can give expression to all of our saddest memories of what never happened, the one who never appeared outside the door when we most hoped.
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BONUS
BEST TRACKS: “Pure”. This is how affecting it can be when a young artist is left alone with his own thoughts about life and inadequacy.
DID YOU KNOW THAT… Sienna’s father, Glenn Spirois a jeweler and has collaborated with several celebrities, such as Jay-Z, Beyonce and the Princess of Wales.
ALSO LISTEN TO: Duffys “Rock Ferry” from 2008. The less obvious and perpetually underrated addition to modern UK archival soul history.
