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With only her second new release in the last fourteen years, there is a legion of fans eagerly awaiting the new sound of Mari Wilson, an artist who has re-invented herself losing the famous 'beehive' hairstyle and taking a jazzier approach to her work.
The London singer displays some lovely dulcet tones on this debut release from new album Dolled Up, and fans will be pleased to hear that her soulful voice has not shown any signs of deterioration. The trouble is, the song just isn’t that good. With a format that seems to be attempting lounge jazz, but becomes more of a pop effort, the beat is neither upbeat nor ballad-like, which becomes frustrating when the tempo refuses to fluctuate throughout the song. Wilson, as the title suggests, is here describing her life’s "storyline", and a chorus of "it isn’t make believe anymore" is elegantly lifted by the work of her backing singers. However extra vocal work should be left at that, and instead we get about three voices at any one time on the record, including some vocal call and response with the word "storyline", which makes the track seem dated.
An excellent section of piano improvisation proves soothing to the ear, but on the whole I would keep my fingers crossed for a similar diversity displayed on Wilson’s last release Rhythm Romance, the spark is not quite there with this one.
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