Music Review: The Noisettes return with album of jazzy, punky pop on ‘Wild Young Hearts’

Music Review: Noisettes bring jazzy, feisty pop

Noisettes, “Wild Young Hearts” (Mercury)

Jazzy, poppy, punky and bluesy, “Wild Young Hearts” is a perfect title for the Noisettes’ newest album.

The London trio’s follow-up to the debut LP “What’s the Time Mr. Wolf” has a joyful, youthful quality about it, highlighted by production by Jim Abbiss, the knob-twister behind Adele’s soulful smash debut last year.

Frontwoman Shingai Shoniwa slides from melodic, vibrato-filled trilling to girl group R&B, always packed with emotion. She’s the kind of singer whose vocal inflections, like with Billie Holiday and Adele, you really feel.

On the title track, Shoniwa chimes in with “la, la, las” over handclaps, before espousing how she’s changed by the end of summer.

The hit dance single “Don’t Upset the Rhythm” struts on a disco guitar riff and electro beats, as Shoniwa proclaims, “We’ll crank that stereo, even when the speakers blow.”

She sounds uncannily like Amy Winehouse on the 1960s inflected, catchy “Never Forget You.” Shoniwa shows off her range more on “Atticus,” a lovely acoustic number where her voice snakes up and down.

Known for feisty, ferocious live shows, Noisettes should prove wildly successful touring behind “Wild Young Hearts.”

CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: Shoniwa goes deep about lost love on “Every Now and Then,” letting her voice dip down into an alto croon, singing, “If I’m only dreaming, then won’t you tear the curtains down, and let the light back into this empty room.”