The English songwriter Lianne La Havas may be young, but her voice marries youthful lightness with a gravitas most often ascribed to artists well beyond her 25 years. Blood, her second album, builds on the immutable grace of Is Your Love Big Enough?, her 2012 debut. Whereas Is Your Love Big Enough? looks outward for validation, Blood is dynamic and poignantly self-assured in its introspection.
Blood's first single, "Unstoppable" is a breezy summer jam that pairs lighthearted bass and groove with a whimsical video to match. In it, La Havas twirls through an empty house singing of the unique invincibility that comes post-healing: "Our polarity shifted around/ There was nothing else left holding us down/ But it's just gravitational/ We are unstoppable!" Warm and affirming, the track eases listeners into a complex, layered album with La Havas' earthy notes complementing meditations on love.
La Havas, whose soulful tunes place her most often in conversation with artists like Alice Smith, Laura Mvula, and Corinne Bailey Rae, handles her six-string acoustic with elegance and precision. Where she is less graceful, and at times even awkward, is the integration of more electric sounds. "Never Get Enough" alternates between her trademark lullaby and brash chords to almost jarring effect. The tonal shift matches the urgency of the cat-and-mouse lyrical arc, but the abrupt jumps add discordant conflict to an otherwise harmonious track sequencing. The song feels erratic, ill-suited to the pleasant lilt of La Havas' smooth voice. "Grow" alternates between acoustics and strong percussion, but its melodic shifts build gradually, matched by La Havas' rising vocals.
Though La Havas is best known for her dreamy love songs, she shines naturally when exploring her own internal world. "Green & Gold" traces her coming of age through motifs from both her Jamaican and Greek backgrounds: "I'm looking at life unfold, dreaming of the green and gold/ Just like the ancient stone, every sunrise I know/ Those eyes you gave to me, they let me see where I come from." The nods to her mixed race heritage are childlike in their innocent inquiry, but the track still retains its maturity; its strong percussive notes deviate from her tendency toward ballads, evoking the same island influence depicted in the track's lyrics.
The album's strongest ballad, the stunningly simple "Wonderful" showcases her at her finest: sultry, nostalgic, and sweet. The track is a gorgeous ode to love lost, its chorus enchanting: "But wasn't it kinda wonderful?/ Wasn't it kinda wonderful, baby?" With slow snaps punctuating La Havas' voice, "Wonderful" seduces as it soothes. It is the soundtrack to slow motion surprise encounters with an ex. La Havas weaves contentment with a charged reflection on past romance to tantalizing effect: "You can trip, flick a switch negative/ Break the circuit between us/ But electricity lingers/ In our fingers."
Melodic interruption of "Never Get Enough" notwithstanding, Blood is an almost seamless album. Tracks flow into one another with the fluidity and serenity of rain into a freshwater pond—light, refreshing, natural. But there is substance moving here, weight in the currents. La Havas' even, powerful vocals ride syrupy strings with grace and latch onto sharper rhythms with authority. She is deft and adaptive, at once inspiring dancing and melancholy reflection: La Havas is always in motion.
