Review: Harleighblu – Forget Me Not

Every job can be measured in its ability to be bearable by the perks; a handful of sweets from the pick and mix counter, free stationary or use of the office telephones when you have no mobile credit. If you were to ask me for the best perk of working in the music business I wouldn’t mention the free booze, drugs and sex (because I’ve never been offered those things) but the promo copy of upcoming new albums. A fixture on my MP3 player for what seems like four weeks, Harleighblu’s album Forget Me Not finally hits the racks today, and I will be in line to pay money for a proper physical copy. Judging by the album’s musical attributes, I will have to be quick though, as this work of art will fly off the shelves.

Rather than conduct this review on a track-by-track basis, I am going to do the whole thing as one. Harleighblu’s golden smoky tones are caressing my ears as I write this, and one day the people of Nottingham will have the major task of convincing people that she is from Nottingham: “That worldwide soul-jazz superstar?” they’ll scoff, “In Nottingham?”. But thankfully it is true. This fine city of sound has delivered many false starts when it comes to break out success, it would be cruel of me to name names at this point, but I’m sure that we can all name a handful of musicians that were tipped as our next big export only to have those hopes dashed. The silver lining is that we get to keep them to ourselves, but this will not be happening this time.

Close your eyes and listen to this album, really listen to it. You are transported to New Orleans in the 1930s; with cocktails flowing in a smoky club and on the stage there sings a legend in the making. Every track on Forget Me Not is a future classic, and Harleighblu is the one that will get away.

From the powerfully uplifting ‘Enough Now’, the big band era reminiscent ‘Casanova’, the ‘should-be-a-Bond-theme’ largeness of ‘This Way’, right through to the seductive finale of ‘Love Like This’, Forget Me Not is the album that Berry Gordy will wish he had produced.

Review by Steve Oliver