A comeback that raised the church roof
‘Sorry I took so long to come out with new music,” Emeli Sandé apologised on a candlelit stage in an old London church, watched by a suitably reverent audience. Four years is an eternity in pop, where many careers are shorter than the gap between Sandé’s explosive 2012 breakthrough and her long-awaited follow-up. She was heralded as a rival to Adele with a multi-million selling debut, a string of big-vocal smash hits and appearances at the London Olympics ceremonies. Yet a series of low-key shows in intimate venues showcasing material from her imminent second album, Long Live
the Angels, only emphasise what a peculiar pop star she is.
A qualified neurologist, Sandé, now 29, has always seemed a bit grown-up for pop music. She dresses like a bling granny, here covered up in a floor-length dress beneath a shapeless velvet jacket, accessorised by a silver crucifix. Her sole affectation is her hairdo, which resembles a meringue perched on top of her head. But can she sing? Yes she can. She whipped up a storm in a bravura display of gospel soul chops, carrying melodies from low, intimately a capella beginnings to lungbursting, melismatic roars of emotional release. Sandé pulls out all the stops, belting out lyrics as if her life depends on it.
The immediate accessibility of her new material was a reminder that Sandé is also a crafty songwriter, finding a way through well-trodden soul, blues and gospel paths to come up with melodies and lyrics of mainstream appeal and emotional and philosophical substance.
Most shows packed with unfamiliar material would test a crowd’s patience, but Sandé’s fans seemed delighted to indulge her and were finally rewarded with church roof-raising versions of her biggest hits, Next to Me and Read
All About It. Sandé’s second coming seems assured.