Flavia and The Red is fronted by a young Dubliner who decided to seek “the dream” in LA, bringing her band, The Red, along with her.  Flavia and The Red’s début album ‘Too Late too Cry’ is a nod towards soulful singers of the past. As the title might suggest it is centred around the general theme of love and the coinciding pain that often comes with it.

This is a good début effort from the young singer, however it is a little lacking in genuineness. Flavia is singing the songs of a woman wrought with emotional anguish but her vocals are not convincing in their delivery of such sentiments. Taking the opening song Whiskey and Lace; a wonderfully titled track that immediately slots well into the blues-soul genre but the front-woman’s vocals are veering more towards sweet and lovable pop singer.

Without getting caught up in negatives, this is an enjoyable album; one that is inoffensive to the ears and at times pulls at those heart-strings as music like this often does.  Title track Too Late to Cry  shows that the singer can beef things up vocally as she appears to experiment more with her range and she delves into what is an emotionally heavy song.

Perhaps a Little Later is the true gem of the album. It has a fun, playful feel about it which suits Flavia’s vocal style more so than other tracks. Here her mainstream sounding vocals work well with teasing song which begs the question; should she change the tempo and style of her songs, or should she work on making her vocal a little stronger?

This is an incredibly talented young woman with an album that seeps potential. Flavia’s classic image and the music she and her band produce are easily lovable, however the vocals don’t sell the woman scorned vibe we get from the lyrics. That being said, this album is worth a listen; it is clean-cut and ambitious, the work of a future star, potentially.