Being weird is okay.
 
As a socially awkward only child who didn't interact with other people my age until I hit elementary school with a resounding thud, I've had many years of trying to accept my weirdness. Throughout the years of failed relationships, missed career opportunities, and days spent alone, I've had plenty of time in order to come to terms with who I am and where I've been, something that I struggle with to this day. I may be more comfortable with the 22 year old man that you see before you (well, kinda see), despite the fact that I still feel like the trembling 4th grader who dodged the bullies every recess.
 
I wouldn't necessarily call VV Brown weird, per se, but she is certainly not your average singer. A lot of that lies in vocal delivery, as Brown is closer to, say, Kelis than Christina Aguilera, which makes her album more conducive to experimentation. Travelling Like the Light isn't the most experimental song out there, but it's quite pretty, a lush swirl of hushed strings, tender piano, and feathery back-up vocals. Brown has a tendency to over enunciate, which may irk at first, but her voice is textured and romantic, expressive and youthful. The song slows things down a bit and makes Brown go for a more "girly" approach, a nice expansion of her range and a way for the record to not be stale. Shark in the Water brings some sunny tempo before the power-pop hook just explodes into about a billion pieces; the verses sound like something Corinne Bailey Rae could record (that type of friendly, strolling soul), but the hook invokes all sorts of Little Jackie influences (strong and sassy), which is a high compliment. At just a touch over 3 minutes, it's a brief high energy sing-a-long with an intriguing pop-rock-soul fusion sound that's original and refreshingly new. Brown again has some enunciation issues (wait, what's she saying? on first listen, I understand a few verse lines and about half the hook), but those are null and void when this intoxicating romp gets going full steam. It's one of those songs you sing along to regardless of if you know the lyrics or not, so it's a blast of fun.

Flirty and overly exaggerated, Crazy Amazing finds Brown giving us coquette and doing a nice job at it; describing the process of falling in love, Brown is accompanied by a shimmying bassline and some smile-inducing choir-y background vocals (they just add to the ambiance), the production extremely warm and inviting. It's a song that is just begging to be used in a film trailer (if Brown's debut album makes a little noise, don't be surprised if this is the next Breathe) with its starry eyed optimism and earworm hook. Leave! feels a little bit too lenient on Brown's influences; rather than feeling like an homage to a certain time period, it feels more like a lazy aping of sound, a costume-y rendition of what she thinks the 60s sounds like. Granted, it's catchy (the percussion makes the song what it is), but it's a little too expected. The thing that makes the current trend of soulful British female singers interesting is that no one fully leans on the time period, instead bringing their own influences and sounds into the equation to make a unique perspective on their influences. Brown mostly accomplishes this, but here, it just doesn't feel that authentic.

Game Over brings to light some more urban influences and it works surprisingly well; Brown isn't exactly singing Mary J Blige type music or anything, but Game hits a lot harder than the rest of the album with its flashy horns, head nodding bassline, and distinctly modern slant. It has the type of youthful exuberance that accentuates some positives of Brown's approach, its brief running time and explosive climax key to the track's instant replayability. Crying Blood really needed to be longer; I get that most of the record features shorter songs, but to me, a song needs to be around 3 minutes at the minimum in order to be fully formed. At around 2:30, this may be a very sassy, slightly rock influenced sashay, but there could have been more to it. With the girl group harmonies and streamlined production, it's wholly dependent on Brown's performance and she certainly delivers; her faux snarl is endearing (this could have been an embarrassing mess if she had taken it too seriously) and it joins Shark in the Water as the most radio friendly pieces on the album.
 
VV Brown's debut album could easily be written off as yet another continuation of the current retro British soul trend in music; throw a pretty girl over an arrangement of girl-group harmonies, sing-song melodies, and a simple hook and boom, you have a masterpiece. I'm not saying I don't enjoy the music that has come about from the trend (I worship at the Church of Winehouse, after all), but it's nice to see someone like VV Brown buck the trend a bit. Brown's quirkiness is to her advantage, her colorful album slightly left of center a'la Solange Knowles' Sol-Angel & the Hadley St. Dreams. It may fall short of being as good as Knowles' 2008 return, but Brown is off to a rather solid start. If she refines her sound a bit more and learns to focus, I could see myself growing to love the 26 year old Northampton gal whose hair is nearly as big as her potential.
 
Tracklisting
Quick Fix
Game Over
Shark in the Water
Leave!
Bottles
Crying Blood
Back in Time
I Love You
L.O.V.E.
Everybody
Crazy Amazing
Travelling Like the Light

Recommended: Yes