Rumer: Into Colour
Details
Genre: Pop, r&b, Soft RockPros:
Philly soul style invades Rumer's AC trip for the betterCons:
Too relaxed and formulaic; lean singer-songwriting style and overblown string arrangements reduces some of the hypePhilly soul swagger drops on Rumer’s easy-listening album
Philly soul swagger drops on Rumer’s easy-listening album
Dressed in Thom Bell pageantry, Rumer’s Into Colour feels like a Philly soul lost tape. The Pakistan-born UK singer is entertaining new territory on her third solo album, and possibly may be paying homage to a genre that may have influenced some of her buttery singer-songwriter skills (hence the album title). Although she sings with too much grace and sounds like Karen Carpenter, she feels relaxed on this style. With producer Rob Shirakbari (Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick) by her side as co-writer, the songs instantly appeal to older audiences. They instantly take you back to an era dominated by the Stylistics and the Spinners. There’s a bit of disco lite (“Dangerous”), Carpenters elegance (“Sam”) and AC-friendly romance (“Reach Out”) aboard. And “You Just Don’t Know People” sounds almost like Al Green’s “What a Wonderful Thing Love Is.” Having said that, the disc still suffers as the extravagant strings coming from Shirakbari’s skill seems to overtake the entire adventure. Even with Daryl Hall’s musicians on site, Into Colour is overblown with the same type of slow-mo soul. Even Thom Bell would have thrown in something funky or oddly challenging to shake things up a bit. After a while, it becomes so saturated with easy-listening potpourri that it’s capable for one to nod off. A few extra uptempos, a bit more soul and a little less filler (“Pizza and Pinball” should have been left out altogether), and this Karen Carpenter clone may have been walking on sunshine.
