Katie Gregson-MacLeod - BIG RED

Breakthrough ‘complex’ may have spread like the proverbial wildfire thanks to a certain video app, but its virality was based very specifically on the song’s - and by extension, Katie Gregson-MacLeod’s - ability to forge a human connection. Its stripped-back piano-and-vocal nature allowed the Scottish songwriter’s breathy vocal to steal the spotlight, a voice which throughout the ensuing ‘songs written for piano’ EP sparkled as it showed an enviable ability to deliver her lyrics with pitch-perfect emotion. And on ‘BIG RED’, the points where she continues in this vein - the heartstring-plucking ‘Girlfriend’, or soaring opener ‘September’ - are stellar, as she once again uses the everyday to convey full drama. Who knows how, but realising you’ve fallen for someone while specifically on the Jubilee Line is somehow more powerful an idea than doing so without GPS coordinates. There’s a little lost in the production as it amps up - the formulaic build of ‘Your Ex’ borders on cloying; the sentiment of ‘Guestlist’ is lessened in what sounds like a bid for drivetime radio - but when the raw material’s this good, that’s a mere minor quibble.