In a career dating back to the early 70s, Joan Armatrading has achieved just about everything an artist could want, precisely by refusing to be pigeonholed. She’s been nominated for Grammys in both the Rock and Blues categories, been given a Lifetime Achievement gong by the Radio 2 Folk Awards and earned a CBE. Recently, in 2023, the artist’s first classical piece, Symphony No. 1, was performed by the Chineke! Orchestra.
The latter endeavour inspired an album Armatrading wrote, produced, played, programmed and engineered entirely herself. But rather than being classically influenced, this is a refreshingly contemporary collection that displays her many strengths.