Paloma Faith - Infinite Things

by Zena Grieg

published: 25 / 1 / 2021

Label: RCA
Format: CD

Intimate and reflective but uplifting fifth album from much acclaimed singer-songwriter and musician Paloma Faith

Review

‘Infinite Things,’ the fifth album by the Hackney-based BRIT Award-winning singer, songwriter and actress Paloma Faith, was created with long-time and new collaborators including producers Patrick Wimberly and Detonate, songwriters Starsmith, Ed Harcourt, Tre Jean-Marie, producer and songwriter MNEK and friend Josef Salvat. The recording was completed just before lockdown. Stuck in her East London home, enjoying a quiet time with her partner, French artist Leyman Lahcine, and their three-year old daughter, Faith, however, decided to rework her songs with a more intimate touch, learning how to engineer her songs working remotely with a large supporting cast. The result is a transformative journey of survival, thirteen tracks exploring sadness, sickness, loss and the complexities of trying to make a relationship work in a tumultuous and ever-changing world. Faith comments, “I’m trying to relinquish the expectation that a lot of people are raised with, that the only good life is a happy one. I don’t think that’s realistic. It’s about the peaks and troughs, because if you didn’t have one you wouldn’t recognise the other.” Standout tracks include the catchy electro pop track ‘Monster’ with its dancefloor beat, co-written with MNEK, its theme the pressures of fame: “Now I’m a monster/Created a monster/Rattling the bars, dancing with the stars/But I’m a monster/So hear me howl, I’m coming out/Make you say “Ahh”/Make you say “Ahh”’. Also, the album’s lead single the emotive ‘Better Than This’ about enduring love in a time of violence, the music video highlighting the existential threats of climate emergency, police brutality, the race divide and the savagery of war: “I saw you and I knew I can do better than this, better than this/I heard a language I thought I can’t speak/I saw an ocean I thought was too deep/I see you and I know we can do better than this, better than this,” and the second single ‘Gold’, the only song to be recorded in an outside studio, Faith’s response to gentrification in the area - the accompanying video with its abandoned building site stage a dramatic platform for her performance alongside a choir and a host of dancers, celebrating life, freedom and joy. As Faith explains, “I feel a lot of people saw Hackney as an investment opportunity rather than what it really is…This guy is trying to buy the flats out there but me and my dancers represent the community – which is the actual gold. The gold isn’t money.” Opening with the optimistic 80s-sounding ‘Supernatural’, its romantic lyrics carried by nostalgic 80's synth, the album closes powerfully with the stripped back, reflective ‘Last Night On Earth’. The collection showcases Faith’s instinctive creative flair and lyrical ability, her expressive voice driving its uplifting songs, mixing 80s sound with a modern complexion. Faith will perform ‘Infinite Things’ in an extensive tour across the UK in autumn 2021 including two nights at the London Palladium.

Track Listing:-

1 Supernatural
2 Monster
3 Gold
4 Falling Down
5 Infinite Things
6 If This Is Goodbye
7 Better Than This
8 Me Time
9 If Loving You Was Easy
10 Beautiful & Damned
11 I'd Die for You
12 Living with a Stranger
13 Last Night on Earth