A sea of sentiments

Gravity is at the center of the tumultuous emotional waves splashing ashore in Corinne Bailey Rae’s latest album, “The Sea.”

One can tell the songs, which vary from Waldon-esque reflections on God in “Love’s On Its Way” to the melancholy paradise she shared with recently-deceased husband Jason Rae (“I’d Do It All Again), are beautiful simply because of their song titles.

“I Would Like To Call It Beauty” is one of the disc’s 12 tracks that feature the roar of introspective Fiona Apple-isms to superb effect, minus the self-deprecation.

“The Blackest Lily,” a darkly sexy Prince-y sounding number, boasts the stunning couplet: “You are unnervingly delicate / And I have a weakness for etiquette.”

The entire album focuses on a dark aesthetic, but the timbre of Rae’s voice in her psychological self-examinations of raw, real situations comes from a refreshingly humble, bigger-picture point of view. 

It will be hard for Rae to top herself with her next album. In just her second turn, she has managed to ground the schizo-eclectic emotions churning in the tidal waves of life that engulf all of us.