Gabrielle Aplin – Light Up the Dark (2018) [7Digital FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Gabrielle Ann Aplin is an English singer-songwriter. “Light Up the Dark” is the second studio album, released by Parlophone Records. Debuting at #14 in the UK Albums Chart, the album features the singles ‘Light Up the Dark’ and ‘Sweet Nothing’. This deluxe edition features six bonus tracks.

Gabrielle Aplin found her way to fame through a very modern route, this Bath singer-songwriter making her name through covers of the likes of Paramore and Fleetwood Mac uploaded to YouTube. Viral success doesn’t necessarily translate to real-world fame, but Parlophone obviously heard something special in Aplin, and her debut album English Rain proved their suspicions right. Singles like ‘Please Don’t Say You Love Me’ and ‘Panic Cord’ rocketed into the UK chart, and soon Aplin was sharing stages with Ed Sheeran and winning co-signs from pop royalty (Holly Johnson was quite keen on her cover of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘The Power Of Love’).

Can she repeat such successes on album number two? Light Up The Dark would suggest so. Recorded with help from Luke Potashnick from The Temperance Movement at his home studio, Gabrielle describes the record as “more free”, and a “letting go of ego”. From the swirling, bluesy title track that kicks the album off, it’s quickly clear this is a more mature, thoughtful album than its predecessor, even as it builds to a heady crescendo that would get Florence + The Machine jealous. Similarly energetic is the bouncy dancefloor soul of ‘Sweet Nothing’ and the sashaying, brass-powered ‘Letting You Go’. But there’s more sonic depth here than on English Rain, evinced by the stuttering electronic rhythms laced through ‘Fools Love’ and ‘Skeleton’, an infectious groove assembled from boom-clap rhythms, chiming piano and whooshing sound effects.

Ultimately, though, it’s the strength of the songwriting that makes Light Up The Dark a worthy follow-up – and even when Gabrielle pulls the arrangements right back, as on the huskily intimate ‘Shallow Love’, or the tender and wistful ‘Don’t Break Your Heart’ on me, the lyrics and arrangements shine. This time out, she didn’t even need a cover version to attract our attention – a sign that Gabrielle Aplin’s maturation as an artist is complete.

Tracklist:
01 – Light Up The Dark
02 – Skeleton
03 – Fools Love
04 – Slip Away
05 – Sweet Nothing
06 – Heavy Heart
07 – Shallow Love
08 – Anybody Out There
09 – Hurt
10 – Together
11 – What Did You Do?
12 – A While
13 – Don’t Break Your Heart On Me
14 – This Side Of The Moon
15 – Coming Home
16 – Letting You Go
17 – The House We Never Built
18 – You Don’t Like Dancing