CD: LeAnn Rimes - Remnants

According to convention, a country gal like LeAnn Rimes should garner her lyrical inspiration from hard liquor and hard knocks. To see her then, the other week, on ITV's Loose Women discussing how it was actually the experience of being a stepmum that largely informed her new album, one couldn't help feel something of an anti-climax. Maybe, though, we underestimate the place of domestic life in songcraft.

Instead, the album moves instead between pop, alt-rock, jazz, and, most of all soul, a style at which Rimes proves a natural. In fact, on "Long Live Love", she channels her inner soul sister with such gusto it's enough to make even middle-aged men weep. Of course, some may question whether it's the place of a country singer like Rimes to inhabit this musical style, but she does it with admirable reverence, breadth and range. "Love Is Love Is Love" opts for a euphoric gospel sound, and "Outrageous Love"' employs a lower, sexier register along with an orchestral arrangement for a classic, vintage feel.

Whilst affairs of the heart dominate the record, not every song has R'n'B in its veins. For instance, the album starts with a slightly brassy interpretation of Brandi Carlisle's alt-rocker, "The Story". Rimes's indie side is explored further in "Mother", which employs a Tori Amos vibe to discuss maternal love. Finally, Rimes demonstrates her famously fine ear for a good pop song in "Love Lines", which has an infectious sampled-guitar rhythm of the sort that Madonna used in "Don't Tell Me". Naturally, given the prevailing lyrical themes, there are some drippy moments – the worst offender is "How to Kiss a Boy", which sounds like the soundtrack to a daytime soap opera. But for the most part this is an album to be surprised by and to delight in. 

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