British singer Sarah Joyce makes her debut at the age of 31 as Rumer and was immediately recognized as a great talent in her home country. Perhaps the fact that it took a while for Rumer to only benefit the music, because Seasons Of My Soul radiates nothing but positive calm and maturity. Musically she goes back to the warm soft pop of The Carpenters and Burt Bacharach and the cool British soul of
… Dusty Springfield. In terms of timbre and diction, her voice mainly evokes memories of Karen Carpenter. The strength of Seasons Of My Soul is that Rumer uses these tried-and-tested retro elements for eleven personal and narrative songs, such as the beautiful single Aretha in which she tells how the voice of Aretha Franklin gave her strength during her difficult school days. The album could have done with a bit more spice here and there and it will sound uniform in the long run. Nevertheless, a convincing debut by a singer with an addictively beautiful voice. (MR)more
