After hearing Beth Rowley’s debut EP Violets late last year, I had been looking forward to more of the sophistication and understatement of Rowley’s music with the release of her album, Little Dreamer. Thankfully, the Bristolian singer/songwriter has not disappointed; Little Dreamer is a gorgeous arrangement of musical genres you would usually associate with the depths of human experience – lashings of blues, soul, gospel, country and jazz make for an album about desire, sorrow, anger, hope and joy – while Rowley’s sultry vocals give it a cool and contemporary edge.

Like Violets, the album opens with the slow-burning ‘Nobody’s Fault but Mine’, in which Rowley’s relatively bare, regret tinged vocals give way to a soaring, gospel-like crescendo, mirroring the way the track is about introspection at the same time as it deals with the powerful and universal theme of redemption. The sexy, blues-inspired track ‘Sweet Hours’ follows with its understated evocation of longing and anticipation. Co-written with saxophonist Ben Castle, the effortlessly provocative lyrics, such as "Sweet hours, go a little slower when the lights are getting lower", make ‘Sweet Hours’ a highlight of the album.

‘Almost Persuaded’ follows the same route as ‘Sweet Hours’ in that it is about desire, yet this time the track explores the darker elements of wanting, with the touch of a warm hand being enough for the singer to contemplate compromising her conscience and pride. Other highlights include the melodious and self-reflexive first single from the album, ‘Oh My Life’, co-written with Castle and Paul Wilkinson, her uplifting reggae version of Bob Dylan’s ‘I Shall Be Released’ and the self-indulgent melancholy of the bluesy ‘Only One Cloud’.

Little Dreamer’s stand out track is Rowley’s interpretation of Willie Nelson’s classic ‘Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground’, featuring Irish singer Duke Special. Rowley and Special manage to capture the sad beauty of the track, with Rowley’s clear, clipped voice suggesting rawness and vulnerability, while Special’s defeatist, mournful tone – together with his strong Irish twang – relieves the track of any sense of self-consciousness, which seems appropriate for a song about honest, bare emotion.

‘Beautiful Tomorrows’ also has a morose sensibility to its lyrics, but this is countered by the song’s joyous energy. This is in keeping with how the song paradoxically champions hope when all is hopeless. It ends the album on a musical high note and that is always a good thing for any album that asks for an emotional investment from the listener.

My only minor gripes are with the few tracks that didn’t quite reach the standard of the rest of the album – but that’s because the bar is set so high. For me, ‘You Never Called Me Tonight’ never quite pulls off the quiet rage and desperation it is going for – although the lyrics are clever in their simplicity and the chorus is catchy – the sweet musings on the past and living in the moment in the album's second single, ‘So Sublime’, seem a bit too cute and flimsy and ‘When the Rains Came’ is a bit too country-inspired for my taste but, of course, everything is subjective.

And subjectivity and interpretation are what this album is all about – Little Dreamer is a musical expression of all those things that are personally felt and universally understood. And personally, I think Rowley’s debut album deserves to be a universal success.

Read our interview with Beth Rowley and check out our review of her debut EP Violets.

Little Dreamer, by Beth Rowley
Label: Universal
Released: 19 May 2008
ASIN: B0011V97G0

Buy Beth Rowley's Little Dreamer online now and make up your own mind about the debut album from the smoky-voiced songstress. Alternatively, watch the video of her first single, 'Oh My Life' and her latest, 'So Sublime’.