My Heart Recalls That It All Seems the Same

It is heartbreaking listing to The Sea, the sophomore outing from Corrine Bailey Rae. For those unaware, Bailey Rae’s husband was found dead in March of 2008 after seven years of marriage. And she doesn’t shy away from that subject, even starting out the album with the one-two emotional punch of Are You Here, where you your heart swells when she asks the title question and ends the song with the line, “Wait till you see those eyes.” And even though it was written before his untimely death, I’d Do it All Again, it takes on a different meaning the way she sings it after the event.

But it is where tries something new where The Sea really shines. Feels Like the First Time starts off with an ominous piano riff before going back to her smooth self reminiscent of her first album, but that riff comes back for the chorus to much effect. She fulfills that genre defying promise of Feel Like the First Time with the bass heavy, near rock of The Blackest Lily complete with the organ flair of a rock group complete with Bailey Rae unleashing her inner rock star on the chorus and a weird Peter Frampton vocal distortion (which sound refreshing today with everyone else in her genre abusing auto-tune).

The most accessible song of the set, is the breezy Paris Nights / New York Mornings which may not have the sing a long vibe as her breakout hit Put Your Records On but is just as fun and will most like be over abused in upcoming romantic comedies. Add some new wave type synthesizers and some attitude to that and then you get Paper Doll. But those songs are just a diversion for the heart break that starts off the album.

Song to Download – Feels Like the First Time

The Sea gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.