Album Review: Alice Russell - To Dust

Eschewing the finger clicking 'oh-no-he-di'int' spectacle essential to the arsenal of lesser artists and often happy to step behind the superb soul and funk for the greater good, Suffolk singer Alice Russell hits her stride with her fifth solo studio album, To Dust. A collection of warm songs about cold hearts, this is a justifiably proud record that never begins to ask for the listener's love, but never stops asserting why it's deserved.

Despite no beats, no scratches and no guest MCs, To Dust nevertheless covets the hip-hop in its follicles and under its cuticles. A to Z opens the record with backing RZA would be proud to call a sample and a singsong sunny-day imagining of Blackalicious' Alphabet Aerobics. Further along, the arresting juxtaposition of dark and light continues on the title track and the three interludes that punctuate the album. Heartbreaker was an obvious choice for a lead single, with the sharp notes and motivated rhythm section sheltered by Alice's vocal an exercise in restrained production and perfect presentation.

Russell is a versatile artist, and To Dust is the best vehicle yet for her unique, foreign and yet familiar sound. It's easy to compare but impossible to disparage an artist that never sounds derivative while channeling the singers she grew up on with startling veracity – influences present themselves to the listener through a reverse osmosis that disarms. She's the angel on Kelis' shoulder; the devil on Dionne Warwick's. The 'Guest Vocalist' credit that followed her earlier in her career is getting smaller by the day.