There must be times when John Newman curses the day another lanky, bequiffed soul singer appeared on his patch.
But while Sam Smith has calibrated his voice and soppy ballads with the mainstream very much in mind, you get the sense that Newman is working to a different gameplan.
On his second album, it’s all exuberant old-school soul and uptempo stompers from the Yorkshireman, with tracks bathed in swanky brass, dashing rare grooves and skyscraping gospel backing vocals.
The retro-soul field is a crowded one but Newman and his producers Greg Kurstin and Jack Splash do well to differentiate the singer from the pack with strong, vibrant, anthemic tracks like Give You My Love, Something Special and the funk-loaded We All Get Lonely.
