Never Enough Notes e-zine // reviews + interviews + music

Used as we all are to poignant songs being played to death in talent shows, reality TV and supermarket playlists, it’s not very often that a song on an advert catches me, especially when it’s a cover of ‘Wherever You Will Go’ by radio-ready rockers The Calling.

Like all of the best cover versions, it’s actually superior to the original, with its power ballad histrionics, understated and heartfelt enough for the somewhat weak lyrics to be ignored. Ms. Soraia herself is a graduate of The BRIT School that produced Adele, Kate Nash and many more. She certainly leans towards the same blend of chart friendliness and ease of listening.

Importantly, it’s not so much an album as a rehash of material from a number of previous EPs on Seesaw Records, with the aforementioned hit as a bonus track. You can’t blame the label or the artist for doing it on the back of a song with advert and X Factor exposure but still… Perhaps it might be fair to say that she’s paid her dues and is now getting her break, although an album that’s cobbled together is sure to suffer against albums written and recorded at the same time in terms of continuity, coherence and consistency.

Your mum might like this; if blandness is a crime, then this one would be serving life – it’s Norah-Jones-Katie-Melua-singer-songwriter stuff. The rest of the material is nowhere near as good as the bonus track and doesn’t even sound much like it in terms of spareness or economy of sound.

The brooding urgency of the guitar line on postcards from Io and that country and western kick on Meadow Child, plus the incongruous lyrics of Bipolar are highlights, but much of it is languid to the point of catatonia. I wish she wouldn’t try for those high notes, it sounds like a kettle whistling (see the opening track). A few marks were regained by a second listen, although it’s unlikely that there’ll ever be a third.

I must say in mitigation that it’s very much not my cup of tea, so it has had to fight an uphill battle. Perhaps it might be yours; if you’re prepared to meet it on a flatter battlefield, then give it a try. Nothin’ personal. See for yourself:

5/10