★★★★
The title of Ngaiire’s second album,Blastoma, refers to the singer’s struggle with illness as a child, and exudes resilience.
As if in defiance of all that she’s been through, this album raises the bar for Ngaiire.
The best thing about this release is that it never loses its spark. Though it is on the short side with only nine tracks, each song has earned its place and will sustain your interest the whole way through.
For new Ngaiire listeners, one of her greatest strengths as an artist is evoking emotion through carefully controlled vocals, and ‘Cruel’ shows off this skill in a slinky, ’80s-inspired duet with Jack Grace. But she will have you dancing in the next instant, sliding comfortably between belting a longing ballad like ‘Fall Into My Arms’ and crafting an upbeat, rhythmic track like ‘House On A Rock’.
While her big single ‘Once’ may have seemed like a hard act to follow, she shows off different elements of her versatile future soul sound and shines particularly in a few tracks like ‘Many Things’.
Blastoma is a carefully thought-out album with substance to it, and it could be one of the strongest releases from an up-and-coming artist this year.
Ngaiire’sBlastomais released independently through Maximillian Brown and available here.
