Led by relatively soulless singles ‘Like An Arrow’ and ‘Our Eyes’, 26 year old singer-songwriter Lucy Rose’s second album Work It Out suggested from the start it wouldn’t match up to her impressive debut. And indeed, although it delivers 13 tracks worth of fun, folk-tinged pop, Work It Out has little more to offer.
At around the album’s halfway point, the individual songs begin being hard to tell apart; they are all mildly enjoyable, but there is very little uniqueness on this album, and as a result the album is an absolute chore to finish. Complete with a boring and totally pointless interlude in ‘Fly High’, and ‘Shelter’, which has a chorus worryingly similar to that of James Blunt’s ‘Bonfire Heart’, it certainly isn’t an album that will stand the test of time.
That isn’t to say that this in an album that is overwhelmingly bad. The fun factor is something constant throughout pretty much the album, most notably on the summery, feel-good ‘Köln’ and opener ‘For You’. The highlight of the album is undoubtedly the breath-taking ‘Nebraska’, one of the slower songs on the album which therefore benefits from the fact it sounds slightly different to the others and it is perfectly executed.
Overall, Lucy Rose isn’t going to win any awards with this album, and she probably isn’t going to win many new fans either, but Work It Out is nonetheless at least a breezy, summery and enjoyable album.
