Album reviews: Seal, Kurt Cobain, CeeLo Green and TRAAMS
Seal goes for catharsis, Cobain won’t be left to rest in peace, CeeLo Green can’t remove the bad taste from our mouths and TRAAMS mix ferocity with fun
7
Warner Bros
While the ninth album from British R&B star Seal comes cunning titled as 7 (it’s actually his seventh album of self-penned tunes), it doesn’t take an IQ much greater in number, to second guess what to expect from these 11 new tracks. Seal was the pop-soul king of the nineties and after selling lorry loads of albums across the planet, he would simply be foolish to move away from the soaring ballads of love and heartache that made his name. Writing 7 was Seal’s cathartic therapy of sorts, his first album in five years and the first since splitting from his wife Heidi Klum, so unsurprisingly it’s emotionally heavy and far from upbeat. Reunited once again with producer Trevor Horn, the sixth time the pair have collaborated together, Seal’s distinctive vocals are as strong as ever. Monascow and Life on the Dancefloor are destined to be massive radio and club hits. Among the pained balladry (Half a Heart, Every Time I’m With You), Padded Cell shines the brightest: “There’s a million different people living inside of me” roars Seal over an almost Crazy/Killer-esque industrial beat.
