SUSANNE ORUM is a versatile Danish singer. The modern soul crew will know her from her work with Cool Million – notably on their ‘Maybe You’re The One’. Then, for those who were there, she impressed at this year’s Luxury Soul Weekender. Those with long memories might just know that Ms O was part of the trio called Me, She & Her who won a Grammy for “Best New Act of the Year” and had a huge hit with the song ‘I Count the Minutes’ written by song writing legend Diane Warren. However, in the last few years Susanne has had to work her way through some problems – most notably, for a singer, problems with her vocal chords! After a s series of operations, she’s back.. and how! Her just released solo album, ‘Get Real’ is rightly winning plenty of support.
‘Be Mine’ was the album-heralding single – a classic modern soul beater that ticked all the requisite boxes and there’s plenty more of a similar quality on the 13 tracker. For starters there’s the opener, ‘Right Element’ (a light touch of R&B), the crunchy ‘Plan B’, the electro ‘Whenever You’re Around’, and the funkier ‘You Tell Me’ which, we’re told, Susanne penned for her brother who was going through some tough times during the recording of the album. The song’s lyric is replete with sensible advice. Right now, the catchy, retro beater ‘Checkmate’ is getting loads of attention and rightly so! It’s a wonderful duet with Icelandic singer, Tomas Thordarson. (thanks to Mark Turner of Soul Strutter for the info).
Elsewhere on ‘Get Real’ there’’s a very pleasant, sweet, mid-tempo groove ‘If It’s Cool’ (conservatives beware!!! This track includes a rap!) and a clutch of ballads – ‘Law Of Nature’, ‘I Can’t Get You’ , ‘Lilacs In the Rain’ and ‘Don’t’ which allow Ms O to prove that her voice, despite the issues, is still in fine fettle.
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SUSANNE ORUM’S ‘Get Real’ is out now via Vocal Corner.
