ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Rina Sawayama

Hold The Girl Dirty Hit Out now

During her Electric Picnic show Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama indicated that she has worked with Dubliner David Balfe, aka For Those I

Love, on her ‘next album’. That will be worth hearing. What we get on her second album in the meantime is a mix of sophisticated electropop, grungeinformed rap rock and ballads. The souped-up Phantom and acoustic Send My Love To John are the most persuasive of the latter but it’s when the 32 year old eyes up the dancefloor that she is most effective. Hurricanes and Catch Me In The Air soar on the backs of memorable hooks. The title track dips fingers in the font of Madonna’s Like A Prayer at its front, then finds its own identity. Those who screamed at her every move and utterance in a tent at the Picnic proved to be in the know about a substantial artist in the making.