Andreya Triana – Lost Where I Belong

I’ve never been invited to a dinner party, as anyone who’s read one of my reviews might not be surprised to hear. So I don’t know what sort of music people play at them, but I know that to attach the tag of ‘dinner party music’ to anything is a grave insult, implying sounds bland enough to ensure the focus stays on the balsamic drizzle and not the hi-fi.

Lost Where I Belong veers a little close to the background, but is saved heroically from blandness partly by Triana’s voice – an elegant, sultry zephyr that dips low and soars high with breathy ease, bringing to mind Amy Winehouse, Erykah Badu or Jill Scott – and partly by the production from Bonobo, who makes that voice the star and frames it with not much more than understated percussion and acoustic guitars. It won’t startle the guests, but it’s still a deeply soulful and promising debut. [Euan Ferguson]