Grace - FMA

The Guardian 80

(Columbia)

While not yet a household name, the voice of 19-year-old Grace Sewell rang out through millions of living rooms last Christmas. Covering Lesley Gore’s 1963 anthem You Don’t Own Me for House of Fraser’s festive ad campaign, her lofty, billowing rendition climbed the charts through sheer omnipresence. Instead of relying on the song’s success and rushing out an album, however, the Australian singer’s debut arrives six months later, powered by her full-throttle voice and sultry, coffee-table soul. Although there are elements of the calculated vintage balladry of Meghan Trainor, Sewell’s lyrics borrow more from Amy Winehouse’s broken-hearted woes (“I drink so much / I guess it’s called love”). In spite of its title, which stands for Forgive My Attitude, there’s a subtlety to her songs – which range across languid bossa nova, jazz and neo-soul – that suggests she is better suited to sophisticated songwriting than shifting scarves.