The idea of the difficult second album is a cliché because it is true. It’s the moment of truth for an artist who has had a hit with the songs they had years to write on their debut. Can they do it again under time pressure, and even better, show maturity and musical development without losing what made them great in the first place, and will people even care?
Depending on its relative success or failure, the second relaunch can either get you a long career at the top or make it look like you’re already over. In the world of the sensitive male singer-songwriter, there are plenty of examples. Look at Fender itself ascend to a premier Pyramid Stage spot at Glastonbury, Paolo Nutini goes six times platinum with its second, and George Ezra producing his biggest hit single on the second attempt. Unlike, Rag’n’Bone Man† Ben Howard and Tom Odello could not maintain their early popularity.
In 2018, Hitchin’s James Bay followed up the serious, retro rock of his triple platinum debut with Electric Light, a second album that was better, but must have been too big a sonic departure to take its audience. He had clearly listened to Frank Ocean’s atmospheric R&B and enjoyed experimenting with synths and layered digitized vocals. It’s ironic that this third album is called Leap, because at least it’s a retreat back to the more traditional sounds that made it great in the first place. On Give Me the Reason, his voice rasps in all the right places as the guitars build to a rousing arena rock choir. His famous hat is firmly on the cover again.
Bay has heralded Leap as his most personal work. He begins to talk more publicly about Lucy Smith, his girlfriend since school days with whom he has a daughter. The air-blasting single One Life seems to contain a marriage proposal in the second verse. Meanwhile, in May, he announced this album by revealing on social media that he suffered from “anxiety, anxiety and self-confidence issues” in 2019.
There’s nothing gloomy about the 12 songs here. Confidence has completely returned by the time the fantastic standout Love Don’t Hate Me comes into view halfway through. Endless Summer Nights races by without breathing. Too much of the rest stays in its comfort zone, mediocre and melodic. He’s back in the middle of the road, waiting to see if the crowd will rejoin him.
(EMI)