Clare Maguire - Stranger Things Have Happened

The Guardian 60

(Virgin)

Those with good memories might remember Clare Maguire from the new artist tipping season circa 2010-11, where the lungy Birmingham singer was marketed as a cut-price Florence Welch. Epic fail: bad reviews and so-so chart placings followed. Maguire turned to drink. After rehab, a change of label and adoption by the fashion set, she has gone back to basics, with a set of retro-inspired songs that don’t, frankly, refashion the wheel, but boast a certain tremulous, lived-and-loved appeal. The single, Elizabeth Taylor, is not bad, all pianos, strings and textbook triumph over tears; there are plenty more like it. Spookiest and most courageous by far, however, is Falling Leaves, just a few piano notes and ghostly heartbreak.

Sun May 29 07:00:00 GMT 2016

The Guardian 60

(Virgin EMI)

At the turn of the decade, Clare Maguire was loudly touted as the heir to Amy Winehouse and Adele, and courted by the likes of Jay Z and Rick Rubin. Her debut album, however, turned out to be a collection of characterless power ballads, and the buzz faded. Now she has returned with the record she probably should have made in the first place: a collection of classy, retro pop that showcases her chameleonic voice. It’s not a style that holds a huge amount of excitement anymore, as indicated by the album’s more banal junctures, such as the rather stale Elizabeth Taylor and various cod-Adele moments. But Maguire proves it can still be startlingly fruitful – most evidently in the minimal, doomy blues of Falling Leaves, but hinted at in other tracks which seem to reference everything from Nico’s frosty folk and Desire-era Dylan to Beatlesesque pop and Paul Williams’s understatedly beautiful songwriting.

Thu May 26 20:20:12 GMT 2016