Michelle Branch

Michelle Branch is an artist that helped define a generation. While many have argued that she was the credible alternative to Avril Lavigne, those comparisons deserve to have died nearly decades ago when both artists proved their individuality and artistic integrity on their own terms. While there are rumours Avril is about to surface with her new studio album, Michelle finally rewards her loyal and very dedicated fanbase since her 2010 EP Everything Comes And Goes. After a seven year wait, can Hopeless Romantic satisfy her hungry audience?

For those fans anticipating a direct musical follow-up to her last studio album, 2003's Hotel Paper, Hopeless Romantic may be something of a disappointment. Now 33 years old, lyrically Michelle Branch is still worldy wise and slightly weary artist she was at the start of her career, but sonically she is in a very different field. While she is still able to move your heart, mind and body simultaneously, the synth drive of the Patrick Carney and Gus Seyffert produced release applies her pop sensibilities to a sound far more relevant to the current music scene.

While early Michelle is not totally lost on the release, with the simple and honest album stand out Knock Yourself Out boasting echoes of her debut's stronger, more intimate cuts, the record as a whole is a far bigger affair than either of it's predecessors. But worry not, that does not make it any the less beautiful or appealing.

While Carney's Black Keys sound shines through on You're Good, Michelle fully owns the track and makes it hard to imagine anyone else delivering it. The album's title track provides another choice cut. Some may deem it a Prince tribute, with an R&B drive and robust approach to melodrama. In the hands someone less capable, it would be a mess, but in Michelle's, it is a rich and pure pleasure.

Having split with her husband of 10 years, Teddy Landau, just ahead of recording the record, Michelle can be forgiven for the dominance of break up songs throughout the record. While many artists would tell their story as a direct narrative, Michelle gets to the crux of the often flitting feelings as she partners dreamy Carry Me Home with the finger-flick of Not Love A Song. However it is the transitory Fault Line, which sees her move from her ex love to her new love that really hits home hardest.

Overall Hopeless Romantic is a non-stereotypical break-up record that only someone with Michelle's off-beat approach could deliver so faultlessly. This may not be the album her fans had anticipated, but it is stronger for it. While many of her contemporaries worry about emulating past successes, Michelle charges ahead as the artist she has grown into.