The Corrs - Borrowed Heaven (Atlantic)

After the release of three studio albums, The Corrs are back with their latest offering, Borrowed Heaven. With a two year break, this album was either one to carry on the superb work of the quartet or bring about a sound that reinvented and revolutionised the band.

The opener, Summer Sunshine is an up-tempo, typical Corrs track that lives up to its name. With a great start to the album, it's often hard to keep up the same momentum throughout and this is something that the band have, unfortunately and somewhat unexpectedly, failed to achieve.

Despite their last album In Blue's advances to a more commercial pop market, it looks like the Irish quartet have revisited their folk roots as displayed in numbers such as Humdrum and the instrumental Silver Strand. However, Angel's opening reminds me of one time pop "rockers" Hepburn but soon sets in to the folk sound that The Corrs are so good at producing.

Constant references to Borrowed Heaven ("In coffee city, we borrowed heaven" in Summer Sunshine and the title track) produce a theme throughout the album that emphasises the title, whether that be symbolical or merely meaningless. Andrea's happiness is a lyrical focal point shown in songs such as Even If that demonstrate a more focused and mature attitude than in previous songs.

With this new found happiness, the album boasts an uplifting feel that is often interrupted by mellow moments like Hideaway, directly aimed towards the listener rather than the band themselves. Emotional and heart wrenching, Angel can be questioned as to whether it is aimed at the band's mother, who passed away a while ago.

Summer Sunshine is by far the best track on the album, which is somewhat of a disappointment considering the tremendous efforts released by the band in the past. As they progress into the category of Irish legends, their music no longer becomes innovative and refreshing to the English crowd but merely a sound that continues the trend that they once set. This is not to be considered as a bad thing but if this pattern remains in the future, The Corrs fan base may start to decrease or at least, prevent the band from gaining a new audience.

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