Put Neneh Cherry's pop past and Buffalo Stance to one side and concentrate instead on the here and now. Blank Project may be Cherry's first solo album in some 16 years, yet go back to her free-wheeling 2012 collaboration with The Thing on The Cherry Thing and you can see which way the wind was blowing. Here, with Kieran "Four Tet" Hebden overseeing production and collaboration provided by Rocketnumbernine and Robyn, Cherry flies high. The lyrics crackle with an emotional frisson as they address life, death and motherhood while the music sweeps and soars all around her. Be it the infectious hooks on her duet with Robyn on Out of the Black , the dark rhythmic core of 422 or the moody contours shaped by Spit Three Times , Cherry sounds both bold and vulnerable throughout. An album full of rich, intense, adventurous grandeur. nenehcherry.com
Download: Out of the Black, 422, Spit Three Times