Corinne Bailey Rae

The self-titled debut in 2006 offered “Like a Star” and “Put Your Records On” as unusually clear introductions. The arrangements leave room for the voice to move naturally around the beat. Their ease is part of the craft: the melodies do not have to be forced into prominence, and the small instrumental answers help make the songs feel lived in.

The Sea followed in 2010 with a wider emotional and musical palette. “I’d Do It All Again” and “Closer” suggest different ways into the record, while the album sequence lets its changes of mood accumulate. The singing remains recognisable, but the surrounding textures no longer promise the same kind of comfort throughout.

Black Rainbows in 2023 makes the limits of the earlier shorthand clearer still. Its range of textures allows tenderness and abrasion to occupy the same musical world, with “New York Transit Queen” providing a particularly sharp departure from the sound many listeners associate with the debut.

These records make more sense as the work of a curious songwriter than as a gradual escape from one assigned genre. The quiet performances were never the whole story, and the more forceful passages do not remove the care in the phrasing. Begin with the familiar singles, then listen to The Sea and Black Rainbows in full. The striking detail is how the voice can remain intimate even when the song around it becomes much larger, rougher or less certain of where it wants to end.