Although Blood only features ten predominantly short songs, the myriad flashes of brilliance render the album’s brevity irrelevant.
Whereas Is Your Love Big Enough? looks outward for validation, Blood is dynamic and poignantly self-assured in its introspection.
Blood lets her edge away from safety, and it wouldn’t be surprising if her next move takes an even sharper turn.
Lianne La Havas has grown up, branched out, written some devastatingly honest songs, and presented a highly competent album.
Unlike Lianne's self-titled album, which was more acoustic and had heavy drums, Blood has more of a pop appeal. However, Blood isn't just a basic pop album with overdramatic choruses and cliche lyrics. Instead, Blood still has those vulnerable and bittersweet lyrics that were present on Lianne's self-titled album. Not only that, but the production on this album is amazing. While it does have that pop element to it, most of that pop is covered with some beautiful soul elements, along with those ... read more
Lianne La Havas sounds incredible on this project. Her alto is silky smooth and she demonstrates a superb control over her voice, easily being the highlight of every song. She shows nice versatility as well, delivering over ballads as well as more uptempo songs like “Midnight.” I’m a little held back on my excitement for this album by some of the production choices that limit just how great it could have been. The horns on “Midnight” have a nice part to them, but ... read more
I don't know what I've been doing not listening to this for about 6 years. This album is beautifully written and performed, and still sounds fresh almost a decade later. The music is interesting, cohesive and timeless - combining elements of soul, jazz, doo-wop, trip hop and rock, whilst still allowing Lianne's impeccable voice to take centre stage. I've fallen back in love with this album and look forward to listening to her others.
A great album by the talented Lianne La Havas, very well done. It has an excellent production of pop soul, neo soul and folk that is very well done and consistent between each song on the album, each song has a special touch that makes it feel unique from one another. Maybe the pace was a little slow towards the end but it's still a good album in every aspect.
1 | Unstoppable 5:30 | 94 |
2 | Green & Gold 4:38 | 94 |
3 | What You Don't Do 3:40 | 73 |
4 | Tokyo 4:29 | 91 |
5 | Wonderful 4:17 | 63 |
6 | Midnight 3:30 | 96 |
7 | Grow 3:39 | 90 |
8 | Ghost 3:43 | 58 |
9 | Never Get Enough 3:22 | 60 |
10 | Good Goodbye 3:49 | 92 |
#20 | / | Pigeons & Planes |
#27 | / | Variance |
#33 | / | The Needle Drop |
#38 | / | Gigwise |
#53 | / | Rough Trade |