Samatha James - Rise (CD)

All Music Guide

Although Los Angeles singersongwriter Samantha James claims 1980s cocktailpop singers Sade and Basia as two of her primary influences, her debut album Rise sounds as if her true heart lies in that period in the mid'90s when those singers' contemporaries Everything But the Girl lost their taste for twee UK indie guitar pop and jazzy torch songs and transformed themselves into a downtempo electronica act. It was a transformation that worked surprisingly well, not least because Tracey Thorn's smoky, winedark vocals and Ben Watt's knack for languid minorkey melodies both suited the style unexpectedly well. Samantha James is no Tracey Thorn, and her songwriting and production partner Arocha Morton is no Ben Watt, but albums like Walking Wounded are no embarrassment as musical touchstones, and James doesn't embarrass herself in her recreation of the style. The best songs, like the dreamy "Enchanted Life," the lushly tropical "Rain" and the bossa nova influenced "I Found You," a duet with Cel...so Fonseca, are those which leave the dancefloor in favor of those dark, intimate banquettes in the quiet corners, where James' honeyed voice and the duo's fondness for mellow latenight atmospheres are best suited. On the more overtly danceoriented tracks, like "Breathe You In" and "Living Without You," James sounds like just another anonymous dance club diva, and the '80sthrowback rhythm boxes don't help her cause. - Stewart Mason, All Music Guide Read more Less