Duffy looks forward to ‘better days’ after hideous ordeal

THE summer’s most heartwarming comeback is surely that of Duffy. The Welsh singer was Britain’s brightest new star when her debut album Rockferry sold almost two million in the UK in 2008, but she disappeared after 2010’s Endlessly. It was only this April that she opened up about a month-long ordeal during which she was ‘raped, drugged and held captive’. There is a mellow poignancy to her new single River In The Sky, a piano ballad that looks forward to ‘the better days to come’. Duffy’s soulful voice is still in exceptional shape, gliding tenderly over a restrained backing. ‘I pray to fly, burden-free,’ she sings. It’s good to have her back. American star Kesha’s new single is noisier. A cover of T. Rex’s Children Of The Revolution, it’s a raucous taster for a forthcoming Marc Bolan tribute album that also features U2, Elton John and Nick Cave. Making herself heard over blaring horns and strings, Kesha oversings but still manages to capture Bolan’s glam-rock spirit. Duffy’s return isn’t the week’s only comeback. Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside was so obsessed with folk music in his youth that he once wore Morris dancers’ leg bells to a Sex Pistols concert. His fondness for folk endures on a new single, his first in 14 years, on which he tackles two songs by the English singer Anne Briggs. Tangled Man and Wishing Well are beautifully covered. Manchester band Doves are also back with their first music in 11 years, swapping guitars for looped drums and synths on the swirling Carousels.