Lianne La Havas
Blood (Warner)

At 26, Londoner Lianne La Havas easily has more musical chops than most musicians twice her age. Following her critically acclaimed 2012 debut, Is Your Love Big Enough?, her latest offering, Blood, combines the soulful guitar fingerpicking that propelled her to stardom with elements of jazz, neo-soul, R & B, funk, and rock. This creates a seamless collection of tracks that covers the contents of the minds of most 20-something women: love, self-discovery, and some serious soul-searching.

The album, which sees La Havas stepping away from the quieter, more contained acoustic sounds of her first LP, kicks off with “Unstoppable”. At first listen, one might liken La Havas’s voice to the ethereal sound of Feist, but it soon becomes clear that her range as a singer is much broader: she possesses the fearlessness of Aretha Franklin and the soul of Jill Scott while maintaining a precise balance between the two. Throw in a funky bass line and some brass, and it makes sense that this song was selected as the album’s first single.

“Green & Gold” and “What You Don’t Do” keep the tempo going, with La Havas’s velvety-smooth voice carrying you through. Things slow down on “Tokyo” with a less instrument-heavy sound and melancholy lyrics, but it’s definitely not a sleeper. The chorus’s “I’m out of sight/I’m out of mind/Out here in Tokyo” is sure to get stuck in your head after a few listens.

Standout track “Never Get Enough” starts off understated and reminiscent of La Havas’s debut album, but as the chorus approaches, the song takes an audacious turn. Heavy drums, guitars, and synthesizers cue in for the chorus, and then the song returns to acoustic fingerpicking.

La Havas has proven that bigger risks equal bigger rewards. Her painfully honest lyrics and flawless instrumentation create a record so complete, it will surely be in the running for some serious hardware when awards season rolls around.