Voyaging through tumultuous emotions of heartbreak and loss can be like trying to pilot a puny sailboat across the tides of the Bering Sea — nearly impossible and downright terrifying.
But with songstress Corinne Bailey Rae’s latest, The Sea, navigating those briny waters of grief no longer includes that pitiful sailboat, but rather a mighty vessel — envision the “Deadliest Catch” fishing boat — that has one glimmering destination: recovery.
Emotionally raw and electrifyingly lovely, The Sea offers listeners a passage through the agonizing stages of love lost and the discovery of a new, revived spirit.
It has been three years since Rae’s self-titled debut album, and during that hiatus she coped with the abrupt death of her husband, saxophonist Jason Rae, who accidentally overdosed in March 2008. This seminal loss functions as the chilling core of the album’s lyrics and sound.
The album’s first song, “Are You Here?” is a bewitching ode to her late husband — a ghost that seems to hang on every melodic trill on The Sea. Coupled with slow strums of guitar chords and her soft voice, she laments, “Are you here, cause my heart recalls that/ It seems all the same/ It feels all the same.”
You can’t resist immediately diving in with Rae, bubbles swirling around as your body becomes weightless in this pool of mourning refrains.
The album continues to unfurl as Rae reverts back to the bluesy bohemian jazz she exhibited on her first record, but with a deeper, more enriched sound that compliments the honest essence of her pain.
“The Blackest Lily” renders the epitome of melodically diverse instrumental harmonies on The Sea, featuring ?uestlove and James Poyser, who hail from the divinity of hip-hop –The Roots.
The track starts out with the affectionate hush of Rae’s British croon, but quickly swells with a harder edge that produces a seductive marriage with Rae and her collaborators. She is boldly getting her jazzy groove on with a loose, yet aggravated sound that has just the right level of luscious allure.
If you feel like you need to climb your way to the glassy surface to get a breath of that unsullied sea air — think twice — because Rae will have you delightfully trapped in this treacherous ocean of feeling until your fingertips are pruned.
Although The Sea is a melancholy tribute to Rae’s survival of her husband’s passing, she does throwback to the pop-y sound that established her first record.
“Paris Nights/New York Mornings” is precisely the song that will remind you of Rae’s first commercial hit, “Put Your Records On.” It’s light and happy with a dream-like haze of beats and lyrics that garner the perfect antidote for a mean case of the Mondays. Throw your head back in elation and silently bask in the sonic fusion of a smooth vintage sound.
If “Are You Here?” was a harrowing nod to what has been lost in Rae’s personal life, then the final track, “The Sea,” is the acceptance of losing that dearly loved sweetheart. The triumphant violins and chorus of “goodbye” lead Rae out of the dark sea of heartbreak into new territory.
The Sea ends on a hopeful, yet stunningly moving piano note that drifts with the previous oceanic waters of palpable exposed emotion. The mighty vessel made it to the other side where waves of sunny hope crash over any residual waves of bitter grief.
4 stars out of 5.
