It’s a foolish game to wonder who might fill the musical void left by Amy Winehouse’s passing. She was a one-off, after all. However, it’s natural to occasionally look about and ponder where there might be talent of a similar ilk. Not all the doomed druggy stuff, just a female singer who does it from the gut rather than X Factor-flavoured fluffing. Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Zara Larsson et al seem unlikely to even get their round in; of Winehouse’s immediate peers, Duffy’s disappeared and Adele’s become a theatrical torch singer (albeit a very likeable one), and all those Kate Bushy kooks, from Lorde to Bat for Lashes, well, they’re barking up a different tree.
But 24 year old Nottingham singer Harleighblu has a snifter of that Winehouse vibe – raw, lusty, earthy, naughty, but capable of wrenching emotion. Her second album, Futurespective, collects together three digital EPs, and on its 10 tracks she pushes at the sonic boundaries of R&B, while remaining firmly in the soul girl camp (as opposed to the ever-expanding army of wannabe-Flying Lotus outfits). The production here places Harleighblu firmly at the vanguard.
The album has been made with a host of guest producers, although the spacious, gorgeous, longing closing number “Reverse”, with her regular collaborator Benjamin James, is among the best cuts. Elsewhere she hooks up with Audio Sparks (one half of Bugz in the Attic) for stoned-out, jazzual melancholy on “Another One” (“I’m just another one to you”), with the LA alt-hop producer Lost Midas on the sparse, dubstep-tinted “I”, and an album highlight is the lyrically excellent two minutes of bad girl action, “Mmmm”, made with underground hip hop don Dr Zygote (“Last night I lost my keys and the night before my shoes”).
Elsewhere she works with drum'n'basser Spectrasoul, Jonny Faith, J-Felix and others but the checklist of hip, bloggy producers is not what it’s about. This is the sound of red hot promise. Only a couple of the songs are there – nearly – in terms of the catchy sort you can imagine receiving major radio play, but the whole thing shouts out that it's time for Harleighblu to come in from the fringes and take centre stage.
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