Seasons of My Soul

U.K. songbird Rumer's debut album is the very definition of a grower. It's a subtly nuanced record full of gracefully understated arrangements framing quietly soulful crooning, in the sweetest soft-sell you've ever experienced. In the throes of the Information Age, the prospect of listening to something several times in order to get its full impact might seem a bit of an anachronistic notion, but so might Rumer’s whole aesthetic. Though Seasons Of My Soul isn’t overtly retro, it certainly evokes an era when the likes of Burt Bacharach (an avowed Rumer fan), Laura Nyro, and The Carpenters were crafting classy pop tunes for an adult audience. But for all the elegance and beauty that seems to come tumbling so effortlessly out of these tracks, there’s a tinge of melancholy to the proceedings too. The 31-year-old songstress -- who fronted indie-popsters La Honda before going solo -- has been around enough to earn the sad-eyed wisdom that sometimes weeps softly from her voice. And even though she shows fealty to both classic soul and '70s pop by titling a track “Aretha” and closing the album with a determinedly un-ironic cover of Bread frontman David Gates' hit theme song for the 1978 romantic comedy The Goodbye Girl, Rumer’s music is fully functional in the here and now.