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Brooke Combe – Dancing At The Edge Of The World (Modern Sky)

The phrase long awaited is bandied about an awful lot these days, but in the case of Scottish (and for that matter, adopted Scouser) soon-to-be star Brooke Combe finally releasing her first proper album (there’s been an earlier ‘mixtape’, whatever that is) then it’s very apt.

She’s been on the radar for the last couple of years, ever since her fantastic opening run of singles, which included the classic ‘Are You With Me?’, her soulful take on things instantly setting her apart from her peers.

So ever since we’ve been waiting for the big career take off, and after a few false starts, including a change of label, then here she is at last. Collaborating with producer James Skelly, best known as the frontman of The Coral, but there’s no evidence of the sound that he’s famous for here, he’s happy to show off his unseen until now funky side, if he was hoping to have the same effect as Mark Ronson did on Back To Black, then he’s most certainly succeeded in this.

He says of the experience, “The only reason we could make the album in the old-school way of recording live to tape meant Brooke had to be the real deal, I love working with her”.

And the production makes the record, with Combe (with the help of her band) sounding like she means business more than ever. The record kicks off with recent single and Radio 2 favourite This Town, the perfect introduction to proceedings, marrying instrumentation with her honey infused vocal, a mix that will go on to define the album, and carries on over the next two tracks, attention-grabbing catchy slickness.

It’s not all glossy shiny pop, there’s plenty more layers to get your teeth into, especially on the absolute swear fest that is ‘L.M.T.F.A’, where she lays her soul bare, whilst giving what for to someone who sounds like an absolute rotter, it’s a real juddering gear change with what’s gone on before, however the other shimmeringly huge single ‘The Last Time’ ends side one with the groove that has infused most of the first half.

‘Pieces’ and ‘If I Could Only Be Yours’  make it a gentler start to part two, but no less powerful or catchy, just more sedate in feel, before the roaring Supremes-chug of ‘Lanewood Pines’ precedes the album’s highlight, the gorgeous, acoustic-led Butterfly, before the title track closes proceedings.

It’s an album that gives more with each listen, full of both toe-tappers and sensational orchestral touches. There’s bound to be some lazy Corinne Bailey Rae/Michael Kiwanuka references, due largely to her having such a powerful vocal, but it’s a voice that deserves to be name-checked for it’s own qualities rather than compared to. This is an excellent way to start a career that’s been a long time coming, but well worth the wait.

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God is in the TV is an online music and culture fanzine founded in Cardiff by the editor Bill Cummings in 2003. GIITTV Bill has developed the site with the aid of a team of sub-editors and writers from across Britain, covering a wide range of music from unsigned and independent artists to major releases.