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Victoria Canal: Slowly, It Dawns review – a musical promise fulfilled
The Chris Martin-feted Spanish American singer-songwriter delivers a debut album that is mainstream pop fare but packed with variety and nuance
With two Ivor Novello awards for songwriting and a mentorship from Chris Martin that landed her on the Pyramid stage last year during Coldplay’s record-breaking Glastonbury set, Victoria Canal ’s inaugural steps have come co-signed to the hilt. Where the sultry, Cuban rhythms of California Sober blaze with the lust of youth, Cake’s ominous purr could be an early Billie Eilish offering until an almost drum’n’bass beat drops in to play. How Can I Be a Person meditates on toxic comparisons with the sort of gut-punch knack for devastation that nods to Phoebe Bridgers or Bon Iver, while the steady guitar motif of 15% recalls her old mate Martin’s early track Sparks.
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