“The Art of Loving” by Olivia Dean

★★★

Olivia Dean’s top-10-selling second album is “a genuinely lovely collection of would-be classic pop songs,” said in Pitchfork . On her current single, “So Easy,” the warm-toned British neo-soul singer declares “I’m the perfect mix of Saturday night and the rest of your life,” and that’s about right. She and producer Zach Nahome deftly blend plenty of sounds from the past: “a spare set of bongos from a Laurel Canyon open mic, a buttery Brill Building Rhodes organ, and some well-placed bah-bah-bahs courtesy of Motown girl groups.” But the results sometimes sound like mere background music, and a couple “cross the line from charmingly retro into pastiche.”

Still, The Art of Loving “expunges most of the clichés of Dean’s debut album ,” said i

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