Curtis Harding - Face Your Fear

The Guardian 60

(Anti-)

One problem with harking back to classic sounds is that your slinky skill set risks producing generic music. Once a backup singer for Cee-Lo Green, Curtis Harding is on his second album of vintage soul, and often he’s just a little too good at it: a few tracks can pass by in a pleasant period fug. Stay with him, though, and the curveballs become more obvious. The spacey Go As You Are is as disoriented as it is poignant, and Til the End is a sassy retro-modern fusion. Keyboards to the fore, Face Your Fear gussies up Harding’s thoughtful songs with little orchestral digressions, mild psychedelia and, on Dream Girl, what sounds like a Theremin. Wednesday Morning Atonment bears the hallmarks and simpatico of superstar co-producer Danger Mouse.