After climbing the charts and dominating the airwaves last year with her powerful ballad ‘Die On This Hill’, Sienna Spiro has finally released her first-ever album, ‘The Visitor’. A jaw-dropping collection of songs. It is hard to believe this is her debut, already possessing the air of someone who has been releasing music for more than just two years.
Spiro has become known for her raspy voice and impressively wide vocal range, as well as her unique style. Across imagery for this release, she borrows heavily from a retro 60s aesthetic. This blends perfectly with the sonically old-school sounds heard throughout the album. She joins the list of British artists like Olivia Dean and RAYE who are reviving jazz and soul in modern pop music, bringing it back into the mainstream.
The first track ‘This Is My House’ kicks off with a sampled audio plucked from 1975, featuring Nikki Giovanni reading her spoken-word track and poem ‘My House’. Along with a twinkly piano, the album immediately feels magical and cinematic, transporting the listener to a time gone by. She wastes no time with her powerhouse vocals either, showcasing why she is one of the best upcoming vocalists around.
As the song fades out, it blends so seamlessly into ‘We’re Not In Love’, that many may not notice that she has already moved onto the second track. This feeling remains for a lot of the album, as most of the songs are of the ballad style. While this could make the album feel stuck in one genre and place, with the lack of female ballads in the charts in recent years, and artists like Adele not having released for several years, it fills a noticeable hole in the current music landscape.
‘Great Expectation’ acts as the latest single from the record, with a newly released music video that taps into her previously mentioned retro aesthetic. Its powerful chorus is guaranteed to get stuck in the heads of many, and her vocals shine here as she narrates the feeling of falling in love with the idea of someone who may not be the right fit in reality.
The album’s lead single and breakout track for Spiro comes in at track four with ‘Die On This Hill’. A spellbinding and emotive song, it is no surprise that this has had such a huge response since its original release last October.
It is followed up by ‘He’s Not My Baby, I’m His’, a groovy, fun track with a huge backing of trumpets, saxophones, trombones, cellos, violins and more. This is sure to be a dynamic and exciting track to hear live when she heads off on the extensive ‘My House Tour’ this October, through to June 2027.
The simplest, most stripped-back song on the record is fittingly titled ‘Pure’, featuring nothing but her compelling voice, a guitar and some soft, yet moving, strings. It also feels like one of the most vulnerable, detailing her insecurities and uncertainty with her life, the acoustic nature helping to convey this emotion.
‘The Visitor’, the album’s namesake, carries one of the strongest concepts on the album. The lyrics explore the idea that Spiro is not a permanent fixture in her lover’s life, comparing herself to a ‘visitor’ to someone unwilling to commit. It contrasts ‘Time, You & Me’, which is a larger-than-life track with a sultry and mysterious ambience that sounds well suited to a 007 soundtrack. This mood somewhat continues into ‘You Stole The Show’, with its intro of strings and theatrical themes creating a cinematic atmosphere.
Closing out with ‘Mono No Aware’, Spiro strips it back again with lyrics that leave the record and the listener with a feeling of hope and optimism. She sings “It's okay to fall and turn to blue / It's okay to love and okay to lose / But the beauty is you don't have to choose”, over gradually building string-based instrumentals, wrapping the record in a neat little bow.