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Martina Topley-Bird has spent much of her musical career tucked away from the spotlight, most famously contributing her ethereal vocal lines to Tricky's dense trip-hop masterpiece Maxinquaye (where she was mistakenly credited as 'Martine').
There's no confusing the name now, though: her well-received 2003 debut Quixotic was nominated for a Mercury award, and her sophomore effort The Blue God further raises the bar - and expectations - with production from the prolific hit-maker Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, Beck).
The third single from the album, Baby Blue, finds the songstress delivering a simple, subtle melody over fluttering sparkles of piano and some sparse guitar chords. It's an airy, lithe little number, just barely saved from Starbucks-soundtrack soul by a lite-Motown drumbeat that invites head-bobs and handclaps.
Sadly, salvation doesn't translate to innovation, and, as pleasantly as the tune goes down on the first go-round, the feather-thin vocals and ho-hum instrumentation lack the bite and energy that critics' comparisons to Amy Winehouse might have suggested. Judging from Baby Blue, Topley-Bird may be better off sticking to her gig as Tricky's breathy-voiced hook-girl, after all.
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