SOUND JUDGEMENT

The latest album releases reviewed

YELLOW

EMMA-JEAN THACKRAY HHHHI Emma-Jean’s debut album aims to simulate a “lifechanging psychedelic experience” so listeners “see behind the curtain to a hidden dimension”.

Lofty ambitions, but if anyone can achieve them it would be this singer, radio host, DJ and record label boss.

Her love of dystopian science fiction seeps through on tracks such as the psychedelic

house music heater Say Something, but this isn’t just jazz for geeks.

Shared human experience is the tie that binds Yellow, an exemplary debut album from a burgeoning talent.

FOR FREE DAVID CROSBY

HHHII For Free, which drops as the king of soft rock David Crosby turns 80, is his fifth solo record since ending a 20-year hiatus from recording and releasing studio albums.

The ‘60s and ‘70s star enlists the help of Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen and Texan singer/songwriter Sarah Jarosz as he tackles covers and originals – including the Joni Mitchell song that gives the album its name.

The Fagen-written Rodriguez For A Night, is an archetypal jazz rock odyssey, while album opener River Rise and Secret Dancer, meanwhile, capture the wide-eyed harmonies of folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash.

HEY GENIUS OH BABY HHHHI

Oh Baby remember the golden age of the synth-pop duo and are on a mission to drive it into the future.

Distant cousins Rick Hornby and Jen Devereux met at a family funeral and their second EP, the five-track Hey Genius, adds new wave, disco and German electronica influences, as well as Blade Runner.

Opening track and single Cruel Intention is the soundtrack to a late-night neon-soaked journey through the heart of the city, before I Need Somebody To Love Tonight takes you to a sleazy club as dawn approaches.

Oh Baby hope to play some shows over the summer before recording another EP in San Francisco, and in the meantime Hey Genius is the soundtrack to your electric dreams.