Singles Jukebox… IN SPACE!
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[6.38]
Scott Mildenhall: Galactic sensations stretched out and luxuriated in for light years. It’s lurching like “Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me”, butterfly-catching like “Lovin’ You,” and expansive like “Friday’s Child.” If La Havas ever claims not to have recorded it while sat on a cloud beyond extraterrestrial purple skies raining glistening glitter beams, that will likely be because she was so beguiled by the experience that she forgets.
[8]
Iain Mew: Lianne La Havas has previously covered In Rainbows-era Radiohead and Everything Everything to superb effect. Maybe it’s being a fan of that stuff too, but I hear “Unstoppable” like a floaty prog-indie ballad given a particularly lush production and vocal treatment, and it’s the moments when it conjures the alien stillness and scale of space that make the planet-sized narrative work.
[8]
Katherine St Asaph: A gorgeous psychedelic intro, exhaling and exhaling until it’s light enough to float into space; an attached song that only makes it as high as a coffeehouse ceiling.
[6]
Micha Cavaseno: Affected performance and not much else, Lianne La Havas remains a remarkably successful act for someone who should be one of the many people beefing up tracks on some BBE project lost in the Gilles Peterson annals of the yesteryears. The buoyant neo-soul post-Dilla plop of her production rocks no boats, and her tone is halfway between concentration and conceit. Someone is feeling really special for hearing this song, and valuing it as much as it deserves, and then some.
[4]
Jonathan Bogart: I’ve come to terms with the fact that Lianna La Havas may never record another song I’ll love as much as “Forget.” If formless hippie-soul goop is a truer expression of her soul than nervy kiss-off pop, then she should make that, obviously. I’ll still always be a little disappointed, is all.
[5]
David Sheffieck: Trust in Lianne La Havas’s voice, but verify: there are so many things happening in the production here, from vinyl crackle to oversaturated bass to inescapable synth strings that the song entirely betrays the haunting promise of its extended intro. Could be she’s one to watch, but first she needs to find a production that believes she’s actually the main attraction.
[5]
Alfred Soto: With Paul Epworth producing, instruments flicker like lit buoys and the singer’s voice the bow of the search craft. Lianne La Havas has an R&B lilt that distinguishes her from Jessie Ware, which also means she’s cornier, more apt to push an OK-to-good idea past its naturally appointed time.
[7]
Thomas Inskeep: Dreamy vocals fade in along with chimes and quiet synths, giving way to a very trip-hop rhythm track, all loping bass and snare (which, it turns out, is based around a chunk of a Ninja Tune cut by the Invisible). La Havas’s vocal is equal parts jazzy and widescreen, laser-focused: her control over her instrument is superb. This is an alternate-universe six-week #1 single (though you never know: in the UK, where La Havas’s former boss Paloma Faith has broken through, this could potentially become a left-field Radio 2 hit). This is gorgeous. This is what I want my pop music to sound like.
[8]