It’s rare for music to be both deep and breezy, isn’t it? Minnie Riperton does it on “Lovin’ You” (1974) – all those casual la-la-la-las sinking into something profound. Corinne Bailey Rae did it too, with “Put Your Records On” (2006), flagging the nourishment of some much-needed downtime. Olivia Dean’s second album, The Art of Loving, manages the same feat. Her rich, intelligent voice casually blows through a range of plush soul-pop settings that shift the mood from the slow pour of the VIP lounge (all golden brass and richly upholstered string sections) to the barefoot chill of acoustic guitars at the beach bar.
In an interview with Elle over the summer, the 26-year-old Londoner – whose debut album Messy was shortlisted for the 2023 Mercury Prize – said the record was inspired by an exhibition she visited in LA by the artist Mickalene Thomas, titled All About Love. It was an homage to the late American author/activist bell hooks’ book of the same name: “That book is like the Bible,” Dean said. ‘Love is something that can feel quite mystical. It’s this thing we all crave but aren’t properly taught how to do. Why don’t we have a module at school? So the album was just me zooming into that and looking at the last two years of my life and everything I’ve learnt until now.”
The simple yet wise thesis is that love shouldn’t be so hard if we’re honest and take the pressure off of ourselves. Dean’s appealing message about dropping the games and relaxing into kindness runs through every song on this record, from beginning to end. Over the top-down strum of the opener, single “Nice to Each Other”, she sings of stepping outside of expectations and labels (“I don’t want a boyfriend”) and simply enjoying one another’s company. The peaceful closer “I’ve Seen It” finds an electric guitar tracing the familiar chord progression of Pachelbel’s Canon, while Dean muses over the places she’s noticed love. She’s found it in the films and books her parents shared with her; around the table with friends; “sat right across me on the tube, seen it miss a stop or two, seen it trying not to fall apart”. Towards the chorus, she borrows the melody from “Just The Two of Us” (1980) by Bill Withers, another master of the breezy-but-deep.
Sandwiched in between, you’ll find the slinky, sax-draped “Close Up” (“I feel stupid for wearing that dress/ I guess I saw something you didn’t”) with its nod to the prowling beats of Amy Winehouse. Also, the sweet-strummed “So Easy (To Fall In Love)”, on which she promises to be the perfect blend of “Saturday night and the rest of your life”. Backing vocals are layered like chiffon as cocktail piano notes shimmy around a Bacharach and David-indebted trumpet. Dean lays down her deal for a prospective lover: “There’s no need to hide if you’re into me/ Cos I’m into you quite intimately.”
She slips out of this conversational Jill Scott mode to dial up her inner Prince on the dramatic, lighters-aloft ballad “Let Alone the One You Love”. The centrepiece is the gorgeous single “Man I Need”, with its splashy-fun keyboard riff and upward inflected chorus. At a time when the pop charts are a little saturated with women (quite understandably) calling out toxic masculinity, there’s a lovely optimism in Dean’s sunny olive branch of a track. I loved the way this record de-complicates and de-escalates romance, particularly at a time when the climate feels so combative. Dean doesn’t downplay the challenges or the risks of heartbreak. But she offers sussed-up hope with a playful generosity of spirit. Deep’n’breezy does it.
