★★★½

Not that it’s detracted from her work over the years whatsoever, but it’s no secret Sarah Blasko has earned a reputation of being stoic, distant and sobering.

When ‘Only One’, the first single from her fifth studio album, arrived on the airwaves a matter of months ago, it felt like the greatest trick the devil ever pulled: ‘Like A Virgin’-esque synth arpeggios, a heart-shaped chorus and flourishes of sweeping electronica.

This is, indeed, a new Blasko – doing away with the baroque and the orchestral, she’s found a new home among a myriad of synths and songs that come closer to the immediate spectrum of pop music perhaps more than any others in her canon.

‘I’d Be Lost’ blips and bops as our heroine croons; ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ toys with masculinity, its beds of keyboard reverb ice to the touch.

It’s not entirely smooth sailing – ‘Luxurious’, for instance, gets a bit too adult contemporary for comfort. Mostly, however, Eternal Return is a fine song and dance.

This is the sound of Sarah Blasko coming out of her proverbial cocoon to let her colours shine – and it’s such a joyous moment that it’s difficult to look away.

Sarah Blasko’sEternal Returnis out now on EMI/Universal.

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