Our take on... Jess Glynne: Always in Between

Jess Glynne is one of the more understated success stories in British music in recent years. For someone who isn’t splashed on the cover of every celebrity or music magazine, she has managed to break into the history books by being the first woman to have sung on seven consecutive number 1 singles, some of these are collaborations and some her own material. “Always in Between” is the follow up to the hugely successful “insert album name here” and has already produced one hit single in the form of “insert song name here”. How does the rest of the record stand up? Read on…

The album kicks off with a short intro featuring Glynne and what sounds to be a gospel choir of backing musicians before “No One” kicks in, followed by “I’ll Be There”. These two tracks perfectly encapsulate what Glynne’s sound is, which is a mix of soul and modern dance and while some artists might struggle to mix the two genres, Glynne makes is seem pretty effortless thanks in part to her unique vocal style which floats between pitch perfect clean vocals to a vibrato she throws in from time to time. Glynne has seemingly mastered the way to balance the two voices, as too much of the vibrato style would grate after a while, but she has a good instinct on when and where to use it. “Thursday” is a much quieter number driven by Glynne’s vocals and acoustic guitar, and shows another string to her bow.

The rest of the record floats beteen upbeat and quiet, so you get slower numbers like “Never Let Me Go” and “Broken” followed by more dance flavoured songs like “Hate/Love” and “Won’t Say No”. The album is closed out by the f-bomb laden “Rollin” (how this record got away with not having a “Parental Advisory” sticker I don’t know) and the more chilled “Nevermind”.

All in all, “Always in Between” is a great representation of Jess Glynne’s undeniable vocal abilities, and in addition her song writing, as the inlay tells us that all songs were writted by Jess Gylne albeit with some additional credits. If she can keep up this level of consistency in putting out hit singles, she’s going to be around for a long time to come.

These are the thoughtful and experienced words of our man Kevin Dillon, @kevinwritestuff

Jess Glynne; Always In Between is available on CD and vinyl at all Golden Discs stores nationwide and here at goldendiscs.ie.