At first, Brit school alumna Olivia Dean’s debut album Messy feels worryingly like another addition to the catalogue marked “stage school to neo-soul crooner”. There are horns, shuffling 60s rhythms and artificial vinyl crackling, just in case you need reminding that what you’re listening to is inspired by something “vintage”. This is the fault, mainly, of songs such as Dive, with its innocuous Motown stylings, and the beaming gospel lite of The Hardest Part, which comes off more Joss Stone than Smokey Robinson.
