Snoh Aalegra: Legendary Love review – raw R&B talent restrained by reverence for the greats

Swedish-Iranian singer Snoh Aalegra has previously described her music – a lush, pastiche-y mix of R&B, hip-hop, soul and pop – as “cinematic soul”. But although she’s a dab hand at graceful, timeless presentation (and has a truly remarkable voice) Aalegra’s music has often struggled to match up to its aesthetic, hampered by her love of the greats and a penchant for broadly generic lyrics. Her most recent album, 2021’s Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies, made some headway toward carving out a more distinctive sound, thanks to sparky and inventive production from Tyler, the Creator, No ID, P2J and the Neptunes, but still didn’t quite feel like the right fit.

Aalegra’s fourth album is her most successful front-to-back statement yet, even if she can’t shake off the talent-show-ish reverence for her idols. Sparse and warm, Legendary Love puts her androgynous, Sade-ish voice in dizzyingly plush environments: a hybrid of Afrobeats and 80s R&B on the hypnotic I Love You; a bed of minimalist guitars and moonlit synths on This That, which sounds as though it could have been produced by Jai Paul.

For much of the first half of Legendary Love, Aalegra is clearly referencing artists like Dev Hynes and Wet, who put distinctly modern spins on 80s pastiche, and the approach suits her. But that promising start is let down, disappointingly, by Nothing Compares – despite production by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – and Greatest of All Time, which sound like lesser tributes to Janet and Whitney. Aalegra herself is not that legendary yet – but she has more to work with than most.