Gabrielle Aplin - Light Up The Dark

Before Light Up The Dark landed on my desk, I wasn’t sure if Gabrielle Aplin actually existed. I thought it was just a name dreamt up by marketing managers to lend to the emotive music that dominates television advertising. The personal touch and all that.  So, first of all, I need to apologize as apparently she is a person and doesn’t just sing to the tune of vacuum cleaners.  Light Up The Dark is a pleasing album and takes folk and pop as its reference points. Indeed, its most popular track to date, Sweet Nothing, has Mumford & Sons vibes. However, it’s when she ditches the guitar in favour of piano and heavy percussion, such as on stand out track Skeleton, that she becomes interesting and less of a cut out musical mould. Unfortunately, her voice leaves me similarly ambivalent. I can’t deny that it is delicate and pretty, but it’s never anything more, never anything less. All in all, Gabrielle Aplin has written a user-friendly album but it lacks in identity and depth. Quite whether she’s ready to be released from the shackles of John Lewis and become a popstar in her own right remains to be seen.

6.5/10