Maven Grace
★★★
Sleep Standing Up
HELIUM. CD/DL/LP
UK trio’s elegant debut has the Roxy Music seal of approval.
Singersongwriters Mary Home and Henry Jack are an unknown quantity, yet they have some big-hitters on side: Bryan Ferry, who loaned them his Avonmore Studio, producer Chris Hughes (Adam & The Ants, Tears For Fears) and the Lithuanian Philharmonic. Though equally noteworthy, Maven’s third member, guitarist Tom White (Electric Soft Parade/Brakes), virtually disappears amid all the luxurious dream-home contours (some via the same keyboard settings as Roxy smash More Than This). Gilding this chilly beauty is chief vocalist Home. Her calm, unwavering delivery, like an alpine hybrid of an English rose, is nevertheless the vehicle for a torrid inventory of heartbreak following a recent divorce: fear (Me Versus The Volcano), loneliness (Dark Blue Heaven), but ultimately acceptance (When The Butterflies Come Down) and hope (Triumph Herald).