Paolo Nutini // Caustic Love
He’s in complete command of this album, changing the atmosphere from being fun, comfortable and up-beat to being something more slow and mournful.
Paolo Nutini is back. With an album that nearly makes us forget that we haven’t really heard any new material from him for about five years. Not quite, but nearly. Paolo’s classic vocals are as strong as ever, careening through the tracks and reminding us why his previous albums were so successful.
In 'Caustic Love' he shows a winding fun side, with good-humoured dialogue (with hints of social commentary) against burly instrumentals and his trademark velvety vocals - neither being quite right without the other. He’s in complete command of this album, changing the atmosphere from being fun, comfortable and upbeat to being something more slow and mournful. As always, he has exact control over his listeners.
We see songs reminiscent of his previous hits ‘These Streets’ and ‘Candy’ and tracks that take a whole new path altogether as he experiments with funk in ‘Scream (Funk My Life Up)’. But it isn’t only Paolo that can be heard in this album, a varying amount of different vocals pop up intermittently throughout, fading in and out and ultimately making this album like no other of his. 'Caustic Love' is vibrant, urgent, calm, light, and teasing with sultry undertones. I am impressed. It has been a long wait but it has definitely been worth it. Let’s just hope we won’t be waiting another five years for the next album.
Hanna Huzel-Steele
