Corinne Bailey Rae's Black Rainbows is a record that figure high on the end of year record countdowns currently doing the rounds. If that's the kind of thing which winds your wristwatch.
It's a slightly odd record. And not one that's easy to hang on a particular peg. It's Rae's fourth album in all and first in seven years. It's not obviously a soul record or an R&B one. It's not remotely an Indie record. Or a Heavy Metal or a Jazz one.
It struck me as a Rock one and a sprawling and slightly alien and odd one. Uncut calls it Afrofuturism whatever that may be. I prefer to call it Odd. If that's not a label, it jolly well is now. 2023 has been an odd one for me personally and it seems I'm not entirely alone.
Although Black Rainbows is not an easy record to listen to, (far from it frankly), it does have a strangeness, a remoteness which might appeal. It's brave and adventurous certainly. Like all the best records should be.
Anyhow it has New York Transit Queen, a short but fantastic moment which on its own is worth the entry fee. This song alone made me feel young again. Anything that does that, gets my vote and undying loyalty. That goes for Corinne Bailey Rae and everything she represents.
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