Julia Biel was recently described by The Independent as “the best British vocalist to emerge in an age”. There are hints of Amy Winehouse, Billie Holiday and even Macy Gray in her laid-back, smoky delivery, and there’s much to admire on this, her third album.
Biel was part of the F-IRE collective in the mid-2000s, and was nominated as a Rising Star in the 2006 BBC Jazz Awards. Her second album, Love Letters And Other Missiles, did not emerge until 2015, and was more soulful in style, and the new, self-titled album, continues in the same vein.
Biel composed eleven out of the twelve tunes on the new album, and accompanies herself on piano and guitar. Sonically, the album was also shaped by her producer and partner, the multi-instrumentalist, Idris Rahman, and Grammy-award winning engineer Laurent Dupuy (Angélique Kidjo, Salif Keita). Other key musicians include Rahman himself, on bass, clarinet and backing vocals, Marco Piccioni on guitar, Saleem Raman on drums and Samy Bishai on violin and viola.
Opening track, Always, is one of the album’s numerous highlights. The deeply personal lyrics describe a love gone wrong, and there’s a delightful, subtle string arrangement, courtesy of Samy Bishai, but it’s that voice which takes centre-stage. This tune also features Laurence Corns on acoustic guitar, who plays alongside Marco Piccioni.
Say It Out Loud is up next, and includes Rob Updegraff on delicate, atmospheric lead guitar. This song has more of Frank-era Amy Winehouse feel, which is no bad thing.
The first single from the album, Wasting Breath, has a deeply soulful vibe, Biel’s voice combining with a delightful, 1970s-vibe string arrangement, courtesy of Idris Rahman, who co-wrote this tune.
Something Beautiful opens with a delicate piano line by Biel. The lyrics are gorgeous; lines like “there’s something beautiful in your smile, that dares not speak its name.”
The Wilderness boasts a memorable chorus, and some fine piano from Biel, and lead guitar from Marco Piccioni.
Feeling Good, co-written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, but made famous by Nina Simone, is the album’s one cover. Biel slows it down, and the arrangement works well, particularly the jazz guitar lines.
Emily marks a change of style, and sounds more traditionally singer-songwriter in style, but the change of pace breaks things up nicely. The album ends with You Could Turn A Rainbow Grey, Biel’s lyrics as good as the title suggests.
Some listeners may find Julia Biel hard to pigeonhole; although jazz-influenced, it’s not jazz, and whilst it’s deeply soulful, it’s a million miles from contemporary R’n’B. In some ways, the closest comparisons might be with early Norah Jones, insofar as you can truly luxuriate in the delivery. The album’s main weakness is that, taken as a whole, it’s a little too one-paced. The album is somewhat heavy on ballads about love gone wrong, and I felt it needed a few groove-driven tracks to break things up. But at it’s best, on tracks like Always, Wasting Breath and Something Beautiful, Julia Biel lives up to those lofty comparisons.