Album: Paloma Faith, Fall to Grace (RCA)

Produced by Nellee Hooper and Jake Gosling, and co-written by Faith with some familiar names, this a big pop album full of big poppy hooks.

There's such a belt-and-braces approach that the array of sounds (strings, choirs, tubular bells, beats and synths, dubby blurbs and squeaks) can come across as overbearing, while Faith's moody vocals are mannered by design. But the biggest and best numbers - "Picking Up the Pieces", "Blood, Sweat & Tears"- achieve real grandeur.