Mrs. Rae Is Back

If you want proof that God rarely dispenses joy without an equal measure of sorrow, you can look at the career of Corinne Bailey Rae.

In 2001, Corinne Bailey was the coat-check girl in a UK nightclub when she met saxophonist Jason Rae. He encouraged her to make singing more than a hobby. Five years later, her debut record made huge waves. It's tempting to compare her to the other major British debuts of the period --- Adele and Florence Welch --- but Corinne was older than they were, released her record earlier, and received much less of a boost from the indie press.

In March of 2008, Jason Rae died from a mixture of methadone and alcohol. The record that Corinne released two years later, "The Sea", is brilliant and heartbreaking all at once. The first two tracks, "Are You Here?" and "I'd Do It All Again", serve as a one-two punch to any listener who knows that Corinne is singing about her dead husband. The final track, "The Sea", ends like so

The sea, The majestic sea, Breaks everything, Crushes everything, Cleans everything, Takes everything From me

She didn't tour much on the record and she kept out sight for six years.

Her new record is very much a "neo-soul" effort. I listened to it for the first time Monday night, and I was underwhelmed. It seemed like a continual assault of synth sub-bass. I gave it another chance in my headphones and mostly fell in love. This is one of those modern records that's mixed for mid-fi systems. My current home stereo has wayyyy too much bass to reproduce it as anything but a dance record.

So after some consideration, I'm going to recommend this album without reservations. It's probably the third best of her efforts, with "The Sea" as her finest work and the debut record between that and this one, but it will reward your attention. Particularly, if like me, you believe that there is value to be found in sorrow.