Rianne Downey
★★★★
The Consequence Of Love
RUN ON. CD/DL/LP
Debut country solo album from Paul Heaton’s latest vocal foil.
Where does he find them? Paul Heaton has an uncanny knack for turning up not just gifted co-vocalists such as Briana Corrigan and Jacqui Abbott, but singers who are also gifted solo artists. His latest sidekick is 26-year-old Glaswegian Rianne Downey, the owner of a pure country voice that sits somewhere between Patsy Cline and Emmylou Harris. Her debut album is also pure country, be it the timeless finger-picking of Angel or the pitter-patter train track rhythm that underpins Sunblind. As the album title suggests, Downey muses on what love means, whether wanting it, losing it, having it taken away or simply being in it. Thematically central is the title track, a gentle country-folk lament about coming to terms with a break up, although opener Good In Goodbye accepts that loss and death are simply part of living. Rock solid debut from an exceptional singer.