The Sea

Corinne Bailey Rae's self-titled debut was undeniably skillful, but its coffeehouse-ready soul-pop often felt as insubstantial as a summer cloud. Unfortunately, the far superior The Sea is rooted in personal tragedy: Rae's husband, jazz saxophonist Jason Rae, died of an accidental overdose in early 2008. Although some of the album's 11 songs were written before her husband's death, the emotional anguish and hope-through-tears lyrics of songs like "Are You Here," "I Would Like To Call It Beauty" and the sweeping title track make it clear that this is a deeply personal, cathartic album. But while it lacks a surefire hit single along the lines of the debut's "Put Your Records On," The Sea is far more musically substantial, swinging easily from the summery swirl of "Paris Nights / New York Mornings" (which sounds like a great lost Everything But the Girl single) to the slinky soul groove "The Blackest Lily," featuring Questlove and James Poyser from The Roots. Recorded mostly-live with a full band, as opposed to the producer-driven overdubs of the debut, The Sea simply sounds more fully fleshed out and vital than Bailey Rae's comparatively pallid earlier work.