Lucy Rose returns with her eagerly awaited second album Work it Out. In the lead up to its release, she has been touring extensively and been all over Radio 1, even championed by Zane Lowe in the week of his departure for pastures new. Her sophomore LP comes to the fray with a different, more mature and evolved indie-pop sound than the former and by golly, it’s good!
Lucy has been gracing our ears with her heavenly vocals for years. Most notably providing backing vocals for Bombay Bicycle Club’s last three LPs and more recently made guest appearances on singles from up-and-coming rapper Ghostpoet and indie stalwarts Manic Street Preachers, but even this impressive CV is no match for her solo work.
Where 2012’s Like I Used To was primarily a collection of melancholic, angst ridden songs, Work it Out has a new and uplifting vibe throughout. Those trademark vocals are still there but are filled with happiness and are part of a fuller sound. It’s a grand leap forward from her early material and puts her debut firmly behind her. In recent interviews, Lucy claims that she was playing about with beats using an iPad app and used this as a basis for her new material; it has worked well, especially on single Our Eyes, Like an Arrow & Nebraska which are great examples. The beats of these three have a punchy edge, with strong, beat driven melodies which are infectiously foot tapping.
Lucy’s style has taken a slightly electronic shift, reminiscent of Bombay Bicycle Club’s recent material, most evident on Köln and Cover Up, turning her obvious inspiration from her time working with the band from into something really different and truly special. While her lyrics are straightforward, sentimental and sometimes a little cheesy, they form a part of her quintessential English charm (much like her own brand of tea). The production is excellent and with the uncompromising power of her new sound’s catchy sing-along choruses, synth, beats, hooks and riffs, Work it Out it a thoroughly enjoyable record.
Lucy is a humble and grateful performer and although the market is awash with pop-songstresses, she has her own distinctive edge and style that stands out among the overcrowding. This record is much more radio friendly than the former, but even so, it is being firmly filed in my top records of 2015 and I hope it will bring her the commercial success she so deserves.
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