Emma Bunton - My Happy Place

Buy My Happy Place here (Amazon GB)

Oh Emma Bunton. What took you so long to come back with such a luscious, lovely, sixties inspired album in the form of My Happy Place (which is my new happy place)? I realise you've got your family, Spice Girl reunion shenanigans and radio shows to present, but it has been a life in mono without your rather delightful music filling the world. Anyway, I digress. There is no denying that, however the world's musical tastes change and whatever musical trends are the current fad, for a lot of people a new solo Spice album will still be An Event. Emma has always had a rather lovely ability to infuse shimmering contemporary pop with decades old nostalgia that make her songs feel like a surprise visit from an old, cherished friend. It is why My Happy Place works so well - you instantly get the impression that Emma is singing not because it is time for a new album, but because these songs fill her soul and lift her spirits. It is that euphoric vibe which is so utterly contagious that you cannot help but bask in its reflective glory. My Happy Place is not only a charming reflection of Emma's state of mind but a rather splendid musical journey.

It all starts with the current single, Baby Please Don't Stop. Emma sings of a love so fragrant and passionate that it sends her senses spinning; there's even a hint of wise knowledge in there where she recognises that the bumpy patches are worth it because of the exhilarating highs. She sings with a sweet seductive vibe which gives actually ecstatically yearning aura to every word and note she sings. Accompanied by an elegant score that is saturated with graceful strings and pulsing grooves, this swathes her luscious vocal perfectly. The opulent production values flow nicely into the dramatic mariachi of I Wish I Could Have Loved You More. Emma is a captivating chanteuse who guides the melody with a mesmerising melancholy that reflects the listener's own late night yearnings of how things might have been. The percussion races like a heartbeat, giving the music a frenetic, urgent feel that makes it feel like a matter of life or death. It's high noon at the romance reflection corral and it is as vivid as any eight part Netflix series. Next up is Too Many Teardrops, an original composition which feels like it is going to fit beautifully alongside the array of other people's songs she interprets on My Happy Place. It is bold and theatrical, taking every opportunity to accentuate the emotions with lavish score and a grandiose chorus. She sings her sombre and resolute decision to move on to a quixotic blend of James Bond theme mixed with Bossa Nova and Motown. Just glorious - would have (and still could) made a splendid second single from the album.

Welcome Will Young who, out of all the songs, joins her on a lilting, languorous version of I Only Want To Be With You. This stripped back, pared down number is delicately infused with an intoxicating mix of piano, guitar and cello - a trio that dance gracefully alongside the dreamy vocals of the leads. Emma gives the words a sense of lip-biting longing, whilst Will's falsetto adds an aura of sensuous fantasy. Separately they are wonderful; together they are a chart topping majesty waiting to happen. Now, I may be disappointed that Don't Call Me Baby is not a duet with and a cover of the Geri Halliwell song, but I'll take this haunting, swirling interpretation of the Madison Ave song any day. There is such intensity in the music, such ferocity in Emma's determined vocal that it becomes a complete transformation from the playful romp it once was into masterful denouement for anyone who dare still call Emma Baby. I feel like I'd better run and hide. Luckily, All I Need To Get By instantly shifts the mood. Joined by her family and sung with paramour Jade Jones, this becomes more than a song - it is a joyous celebration if what happens when you find the one who makes your heart flutter. The world can still be tough but the journey feels a lot easier. It is actually quite magnificent to have Jade recording again and this is just one big happy that is as radiant as the sun shining on a scorching summer day. On the jazzy inflections of Come Away With Me (the Norah Jones standard), Emma is joined by Josh Kumra - both make it an invitation which seems entirely too hard to resist. The voices work together because neither seeks to over power the other; just work in symbiotic partnership to ensure that each word and note feels essential and unhurried. The music and narrative have every opportunity to really breathe.

You can't beat a good Gibbs brothers song and Emma excels at Emotion. With a delicate finger-click vibe, she is the wise, resigned narrator looking back at her life and espousing her pondering with canorous elegance. When her voice is multi-layered and textured as she sings "goodnight" it is like manuka honey melting into the richest hot chocolate you can imagine. The pathos and heartache of the lyrics are evident in her singing and you just want to make sure everything is going to be OK for our Em (as we probably aren't allowed to call her). Luckily, tonight is the night when 2 Become 1 - and she's joined by Robbie Williams on this new version of the Spice Girls song which is just as much a classic as any other cover on here. As a female-male duet it offers new insights as a relationship song, full of the promise of intimacy and chemistry. It becomes the dance of seduction, a musical foreplay that was never quite as vivid in the original. Just magic. And is if by that same spell case, morning arrives and Here Comes The Sun to close the album (and lead you to wanting to start it all over again). This is one of those finales that needs to be experienced rather than described so go, listen and then tell everyone you've ever met about My Happy Place. It is a convivial gathering which we are all invited to.