The debut, full-length solo album from British chanteuse
Rae Morris, 2015's
Unguarded provides a great showcase for the Lancashire-born artist's absorbing, hypnotic pop. The album comes on the heels of a string of successful EPs from
Morris, who was signed to Atlantic at the young age of 17 in 2011. Despite her youth,
Morris made the most of her early career boost, playing shows in London, developing her songwriting skills with singer/songwriter
Karima Francis, and touring and recording with
Bombay Bicycle Club for their expansive 2014 album
So Long, See You Tomorrow -- all of which she brings to bear on the superb
Unguarded. A well-curated assemblage of songs, some of which she wrote at 17 and produced with electronic pop mastermind
Fryars (
Lily Allen), and others she wrote more recently and recorded with
Ariel Rechtshaid (
Haim, Charlie XCX) in Los Angeles,
Unguarded is a sophisticated debut, steeped in a chilly, if still insulated atmosphere that strongly evokes '80s-era
Kate Bush.
Morris earns such prestigious comparisons through her entrancing vocal prowess and offertory knack for writing catchy, eloquent songs that envelope you more and more with each listen. Cuts like "Under the Shadows," which intentionally lifts the groove from
Bush's "Running Up That Hill," the sultry "Closer," and the
Fryars duet "Cold," are infectious earworms that wouldn't sound out of place next to songs by artists like
Peter Gabriel and
Sarah McLachlan, just as they complement the work of such similarly inclined contemporaries as
Gotye and
Sia. ~ Matt Collar