I like to get things that ought not to be significant but might actually be out of the way early. Here's the one that needs outing for as far as this review goes - Danielle Spencer is Russell Crowe's wife. You see? You know as well as I that such information ought not to influence your reading of these words, but inescapably, it will. I, naturally, will be staunchly professional and won't pay the fact any heed...Slightly to my surprise, I discovered that this is actually Spencer's second full-length record, the first being White Monkey which was released way back in 2001, before she was shackled to Maximus. It seems a little odd to put out a second record after a pretty much unheard one was released so long ago, but this time around Spencer has Tony "of David Bowie fame" Visconti to produce, his name alone probably giving this follow-up more of a chance at notability. The form is of a slightly idiosyncratic, pearl-haired songstress casting out spells in the form of Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks-inspired songs from behind a piano. Lyrically, the theme is largely of vague romantic musings, which often have a fairly fuzzy and disjointed feel. Musically, Spencer's piano is almost never left unaccompanied, which gives some of the songs a pleasantly broad and swirling feel, but smothers other songs in excessive instrumentation which often flails around in several different directions without ever letting the songs hit home. The trouble is that the songs aren't that strong to begin with, generally guilty of being rather too similar to one another and consisting too much of sequences of bolted-together lines in place of quality hooks that the album sorely needs.An occasionally entertaining but generally lacklustre effort at a mystical-sounding pop album, Danielle Spencer's comeback after several years does not seem particularly likely to kickstart the career she desires as a musician, as opposed to her earlier work in acting. Tony Visconti's production, whilst clean, cannot replace the quality songwriting which is largely missing here... despite the amusing statement that "songwriting is at the core" of the record. Wow, really? That's a first.Danielle Spencer on MySpace