Into Colour by Rumer (Album)

Rumer’s new album has her spotting success on the horizon

Sarah Joyce releases her third album ‘Into Colour’ and Rumer has it that this could be her best work yet

our years ago this month, soulful pop songwriter Sarah Prentice dropped the pretence of working as part of a band, and released her first solo album under the moniker Rumer. With Seasons Of My Soul and her 2012 covers album Boys Don’t Cry both breaking the top three of the UK album charts, Into Colour has much to live up to.

Much has changed since 2010, with the Todd Terje-fuelled reinvigoration of disco as a credible art-form one of music’s least expected and most infectious developments. Clearly Terje has helped to kick away the cobwebs from Spirits Having Flown, as In Colours’ first track proper demonstrates. The first single to be drawn from album number three, Dangerous is oxymoronic in title and chronic in its effect upon what follows – demonstrating that the time spent in Burt Bacharach’s California home was not wasted.

Like Bacharach and the Gibb brothers, love is the key topic of inspiration, with Sam and the ‘Carole King meets disco in a jazz bar’ Reach Out highlighting this point. It’s not only disco on display though. Butterfly taps a much more muted dance than Staying Alive could have survived, while the Rufus Wainwright meets Disney soundtrack Baby Come Back To Bed, and slowed down Hot Chocolate soul-funk of You Just Don’t Know People, are positively sultry.

Though Into Colour is Rumer’s third album, it is her second release proper and as such will be fearful of the dreaded sophomore slump. Whether the sandwiching of Boys Don’t Cry had any effect is unlikely, but Into Colour happily sidesteps the common dropping away seen on record number two, giving an elegant and confident stride. Two top threes in a row is hard currency to exchange credibly, but Into Colour could very well be Rumer’s first number one.

Verdict: A smooth, soulful and catchy return that could see Rumer reaching her highest yet

Damien Girling

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