Maybe it’s something about the name Adele and the United Kingdom (in this case, Scotland) that through some clever alchemy yields a voice so big and so distinctive that you can’t help but appreciate its power and how, when you’ve something that good, you don’t really need a lot of bells, whistles, and synthesizers to make good music.
 
Even though this Adele has had to use her middle name since her first is, well, a bit taken, Emeli Sandé is not an artist to be missed.
 
Our Version of Events, the debut release from Sandé, reflects sounds of Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell, and Lauryn Hill and is an album without a lot of tricks that tend to mask the quality (or lack thereof) of a voice. Our Version of Events rightly lets Sandé’s powerful voice do the work, and that is what carries the album. “Heaven,” the first single, is a good pop song that easily lends itself to remixes for clubs. Tracks like “Clown” and “Mountains” show the range, flexibility, and vulnerability that Sandé’s voice elicits, while “Where I Sleep” is an excellent study in understated vocal strength. “Next To Me,” the album’s second single, is a song about the virtues of a well-suited partner and the strength found in just the right coupling and is a perfect sample of just what Our Version of Events does. It’s also, admittedly, my favorite, so I’ll include the video below.
 
Our Version of Events is available now.
 
Emeli Sandé is currently touring the UK and Europe, and has US dates forthcoming in support of Coldplay. Tour information is available here: http://us.emelisande.com/

  

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