Rumer

Boys Don't CryAtlantic ***

Rumer's debut album (Seasons of My Soul) was the sleeper marmite hit of 2010: you either swooned to her honeyed voice or you wanted something with far more grit to it. Not that it mattered which side you were on; before you could sing the first line of The Carpenters' Close to You, Rumer was on her way. So far on her way, it seems, that a covers album – normally a later-career option – was deemed to be the next logical step. The sting, however, lies in the chosen songs (all from the 1970s, and only a couple of which would be called well known) and the underlying theme: men wrote all of them. Cue smooth, FM-friendly, female-centric fare. Essential? No, but you'd have to be Hannibal Lecter not to occasionally warm to the unruffled vibe. rumer.co.uk

Download tracks: Sara Smile, Home Thoughts from Abroad, Travelin' Boy