It’s nice to listen to the latest album of an artist and realise you heard their debut nearly a decade ago (possibly back when you were in high school) and appreciate how far they have come.
This is the case with Katie Melua’s fifth studio album, Secret Symphony. A sweet collection of songs from well-known writers such as Ron Sexsmith’s ‘Gold in Them Hills’ and Fran Healy’s ‘Moonshine’, as well as a few original tracks peppered in.
Opening with ‘Gold In Them Hills’, it sets the tone for the album with Melua’s beautiful signature voice holding notes with purpose and ease, never coming across as over-the-top but rather understated and restrained.
The simplistic guitar chords are backed by an orchestra whose soaring string arrangements, which make this song sound almost Disney-esque, come courtesy of orchestrator and conductor Mike Batt, who served as co-writer and producer on the album.
“On this record I simply wanted to find beautiful songs and to really sing my heart out,” says Melua. This definitely comes across as a singer’s album, with the beautiful lyrics taking the forefront.
Arrangements are kept minimalistic and often slower-paced, but do deviate every so often for tracks like ‘Moonshine’, with its up-tempo jazz feel and ‘All Over the World’, which features an intriguing orchestral doo-wop vibe.
The song ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out’ has a fantastic classic New Orleans jazz sound with its horns, which along with ‘Forgetting All My Troubles’, are standouts on an album that covers a lot of ground in such a short amount of time.
Melua has come a long way since being the teenager who released the 2003 album Call Off The Search. Growing into a voice that was once beyond her years, she conjures images of love, loss and everyday beauty with a masterful ease.
