Atlanta singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lucy Bright is at the heart of Honey, her new single with Raimon. It’s a rather sensual song and she’s got a very appealing amount of exuberance in her delivery. There’s a bedroom feel to it but it’s absolutely pulsing with energy and her vocal performance is very much in tune with that. I like that approach to seduction, the excitement is very much there and it gives the song a real spark as well as a very smooth R&B finish.

Bright did her vocal performance at Emory, though her musical training started a lot earlier. She was writing songs at eight, played double bass in the school orchestra and went on to play guitar, piano and dance. Singing eventually became the central element of a much wider musical practice.

Lucy Bright’s voice is just so compelling that it’s easy to see why that would be the focus. She has the confidence in her voice to carry a song whose very appeal is predicated on the person singing it. It’s a very vivid voice, very present, and it’s a voice that has the right kind of warmth for the material.

Production is soft, which suits the sensuous nature of the track and the track stays very much in the realm of the lively. Bright’s voice has the right amount of brightness to work within the gloss and the right amount of character to command attention through it. The pleasure is in hearing a singer and a production both of the same stripe and with the same level of confidence. It’s all very well proportioned for the kind of R&B track Honey wants to be: slick, immediate and fun.

Lucy Bright brings a pop sensibility to a sensual R&B track, her sheer enthusiasm really driving the shift in mood. Of all the qualities she brings to this track, that sense of enthusiasm is probably the most valuable. There’s a real outgoing quality to the performance even at its most intimate and the attraction is absolutely there in the form of enjoyment. She’s part of her “10 for 10 Challenge’ (ten songs over ten months) and this one is probably one of her very best recent efforts, a very convincing vocal performance.

I’m interested to know how far she could go with that combination of softness and animation over a longer release. The appeal is already very evident here in the form of a very slick production, a really lively song and a vocalist who is clearly having the time of her life which makes the sensuality absolutely appealing.