Album reviews: Chris Stapleton, Benee, McFly and Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Chris Stapleton releases a new country masterpiece while rising star Benee makes a promising pop debut. McFly are stuck in the past, while Sophie Ellis-Bexter is more successful in her nostalgia for disco

Country artist Chris Stapleton (Press image)

Chris Stapleton – Starting Over

★★★★★

It’s strange to think that Chris Stapleton only released his debut album five years ago. Before then, the Kentucky-born musician had spent over a decade writing hit songs for other country music stars, from Kenny Chesney to Luke Bryan. Upon releasing 2015’s Grammy-winning Traveller, though, he went from one of Nashville’s best-kept secrets to one of its biggest artists.

On Starting Over, his fourth record, Stapleton manages to reconcile his more rebellious side with his salt-of-the-earth, homebody character. He goes full outlaw with the brawny “Devil Always Made Me Think Twice”, but is tender when it comes to his gorgeous harmonies with his wife and bandmate, Morgane Stapleton, on “When I’m With You”.

There’s room for a typically raucous number in the shape of “Arkansas”, with its crunchy riffs and squalling electric guitar solos. “Watch You Burn” is a visceral response to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, while “Maggie’s Song”, about a beloved pet, manages to be sentimental but not saccharine. As ever, Stapleton's songwriting is economical, and he tackles favoured themes with a weathered sensitivity; production from his long-time collaborator Dave Cobb, another of Nashville’s finest, is never over-embellished. Even among the country music gems already released this year, Stapleton’s feels like a small miracle. ROC

Benee – Hey u x

★★★★☆

Amid the pandemic, songs that tackle loneliness are striking a particularly resonant chord. In the case of New Zealand artist Benee, her single “Supalonely”, originally about a toxic relationship, became a fun and viral soundtrack for bored teens in lockdown.

The song itself is great, but thankfully her debut album, Hey u x, proves that she’s far more than a one-TikTok wonder. Benee is acutely aware of the issues occupying her Gen Z peers, and she addresses them with a kaleidoscopic record of thrumming bass, perky synths and her impressive songwriting.

The chaotic, omnivorous approach to sonic influences can be distracting, but fits with Benee’s themes. She’s delightfully vicious on the Lily Allen-featuring “Plain”; closer “C U” recalls the poetic yearnings of British rising star Arlo Parks. An extremely promising start. ROC

McFly – Young Dumb Thrills

★★☆☆☆

Had this review been written a decade ago, it would be very different – a lot kinder probably, and possibly written in purple gel pen. Taking its cue from other artists, McFly’s latest album sounds like a relic of the past, and for one of 2000’s most iconic boybands, throwing it back to the early Noughties initially seems like a good choice. Not so much. Young Dumb Thrills might successfully conjure up feelings of nostalgia, but it fails to make them relevant today.

The band’s first album in 10 years opens in the exact same manner it would’ve done 10 years ago, with a saccharine bop about “Happiness” followed by “Another Song About Love” (as the first two songs are so unimaginatively named). Things pick up around the middle when the album finds its feet in more pop-punk territory. It’s impossible to listen to the beat-heavy sound of “Growing Up” and not sense Blink-182 around the corner, but it works. The lyrics draw from the same emotional well of developmentally arrested angst (“There’s not much we can do about growing old / But plenty we can do about growing up”) – the sort that is eternally relatable. Plus it’s catchy as hell.

Sadly, though, much of Young Dumb Thrills feels slightly stale. The album might throw Nineties kids back to the age of gel pens and Motorola flip phones, but the same experience can be achieved by relistening to McFly’s older albums – which do it infinitely better. AN

Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Songs From the Kitchen Disco

★★★☆☆

We won’t forget the celebrity heroes of lockdown. While Joe Wicks kept the nation fit from his living room, and Rufus Wainwright played morning “Quarantunes” in his bathrobe, Sophie Ellis-Bextor entertained fans with her Kitchen Discos streamed every Friday night. Armed with a microphone and sparkling in sequinned dresses beneath a mirror ball, the smiling singer lifted spirits with disco hits and covers amid the mayhem of family life.

This album is the soundtrack of those popular online nights, and her first best-of collection (if you disregard the orchestral reworking released last year).

Ellis-Bextor's slew of Top 10 floor fillers, including “Groovejet”, “Take Me Home” and “Murder On The Dancefloor”, are a cheerful punch of nostalgia for better times. While these are, for the most part, studio originals, the 2000-released former has been rerecorded with James Wiltshire, of DJ duo Freemasons, to curiously little difference except to flatten the sultry soulfulness of her vocals.

Disco and its possibility for escapism has gone down well this troubled year. Kylie Minogue’s excellent new Seventies and Eighties-inspired studio album – released a week ago – is headed for No 1.  There are no newly written tracks here, but it's the debut release for the BBC session recording of Ellis-Bextor’s oft-performed “True Faith” (New Order), and her latest single, a lively reworking of Alcazar’s “Crying at the Discotheque”.

It’s a reminder, too, of her detour from party tunes. The tender piano ballad “Young Blood”, from 2014’s Wanderlust, and her live version of Pulp’s “Do You Remember the First Time”, both feature her voice at its most expressive.

There’s something deeply indulgent about an album that collates an artist’s favourite tracks, including an ode to Julie Andrews with festive finale “My Favourite Things”. But distraction is welcome: this fun compilation can't fail to spread a little joy. EB