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When Melua reveals this sensitive side she's amongst the best artists in her easy-on-the-ear field, and she could yet surpass several of her own idols. But The House contains enough forgettable filler to suggest she's some way off delivering a career-defining canon classic.
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A mixed bag of atmospherics that somewhat justifies Melua's chart-topping popularity back home.
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Musically, there's much to impress, with Orbit utilising admirable restraint on first single The Flood and the jaunty A Happy Place, while Melua's voice is at its fragile best on the stately Red Balloon. Unfortunately, the lyrics let her down, especially on Plague of Love, which features couplets so banal they make Kate Nash seem like a surrealist poet.
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Despite a few moments of middle-of-the-road excess, The House is a shockingly good album--that is, not actually amazingly good, but just shockingly by Katie Melua.
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The House is one small step for mankind, one giant leap for Katie Melua. At least half of the record is fragrantly classy and, occasionally, even beautiful. Despite lacking William Orbit's trademark sound, it's got sparks of invention and wonder.
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MojoOn her fourth album, Melua does her damnedest to break out of her self-imposed schmaltz trap. [Jun 2010, p.94]
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Q MagazineThe result is a mighty leap forwards. [Jun 2010, p.128]