Spinetingly Wonderful
You’d be forgiven for approaching Adele’s debut album with a hint of trepidation. For someone who is only 19 and who seems to have suddenly sprung onto the scene with an avalanche of accolades and hype, there’s a fear that her first album, ‘19’ won’t be able to live up to the Everest sized mountain of interest that has been steeped onto her young shoulders. Add to this the growing number of awards she’s already won this year including the Critic’s Choice Brit Award before her album had even been released and a bevy of famous friends including Jamie T and Jack Penate and that niggling feeling starts to pick once again that surely no one can be that amazing. And sure whilst she may look like every other teenager traipsing around the London streets fresh out of the nearest branch of Top Shop, there’s a lot more to Adele than a trend follower and a lot more to her debut album than her slight age of 19 may suggest.
Genuinely touching and hauntingly moving, ‘19’ echoes throughout with a sense of maturity and heart wrenching honesty as Adele sings directly and truthfully about love, heartache and her hometown. Tackling subjects that will resonate with anyone from teenagers to their grey haired grandparents, the young Croyden girl sings with a sense of maturity and wisdom as delightful groves entwine around lush strings delivered with the spine tingling warmth and passion of her voice. From the sparse accompaniment of opener ‘Daydreamer’, Adele instantly welcomes you into her confidence, exuding a feeling that she is singing directly to you alone as a single guitar mirrors her tender yet melancholy tinged voice. ‘Best For Last’ sees a hint of bite executed as the young songstress picks up the pace with a bouncy soulful attack of a relationship gone awry given extra menace with a snappy bass before a spring is put back into her step with the Mark Ronson produced sparkle of ‘Cold Shoulder’ as it shimmies and shakes with vitality.
But it is the heart felt, gut wrenching numbers that Adele excels at as single ‘Chasing Pavements’ proves with sweeping and soaring vocals that literally pour every ounce of emotion into each line, enveloping you and sharing her pain until you too are questioning what she should do with the relationship that has her in a spin. From this ‘19’ skips along pleasantly with soulfully laced nuggets of pop that sparkle and radiate truthful emotion until a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’ literally knocks you over with a wave of raw passion and spine tingling sensitivity. Accompanied by a mournful piano that weaves around her richly intriguing voice, Adele stops you in your tracks, so moving is her emotion drenched voice before a sorrowful violin sweeps in to insure that you are weeping before the final breathtaking word is sung leaving you feeling emotionally drained before the Croyden girl finishes with a hymn like ode to her beloved London.
Her birth certificate may state that she’s only 19 but Adele sings with a maturity, wisdom and emotion that is far beyond her years and whilst the hype swirling around her may make some wary, ‘19’ is an album that proves that perhaps lurking amongst all the excitement is something to cherish and that can only get better with time.