Sarah BlaskoI Awake is Sarah Blasko's first solo album in three years (her Seeker Lover keeper collaboration with Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby dropped last year), and if her top ten chart debut is anything to go by it looks like it will be her fourth platinum record in as many attempts. But are the 12 tracks found here worthy of such results? Not quite, unfortunately.
I Awake sees the 36-year-old really stepping up the drama, with an orchestral edge blanketing the record throughout, while her vocals are considerably drawn out as opposed to delivered, with energy being replaced for fraught emotion, for the most part. The album is less purposeful and more meandering, and seems to move cautiously because of this. Rhythmic title track and first single I Awake doesn't really give any indication of the record following it. All Of Me is a better touchstone, with Blasko in full Tori Amos-mode as she sits behind a wash of violins, a simple guitar fingerpick and piano. There are some absolute standout songs here – the refrained minimal jazz of New Country lulls you away before Blasko's voice triumphantly soars at the climatic end, and when she lets her verses walk with the instrumental flourishes on Cast The Net, the Sydney musician strikes some serious gold. However, most of the record comes and goes all too easy; the tracks not at all poor, just simply unmemorable.
All the ingredients are here – versatile vocals, rich production, respectful instrumentation – to create something really amazing. But as an album, the overall feeling is of a body of work that comes close, but simply doesn't get over the line.
