In the year before the release of In the Lonely Hour Sam Smith built unstoppable momentum, piling up critical accolades in the UK (including a BRIT Critics’ Choice award and top honors in the BBC Sound of 2014 poll) and prominent cameos (including Disclosure's “Latch” and Naughty Boy’s “La La La”). The British singer/songwriter’s debut, In the Lonely Hour, lives up to the stratospheric expectations. Packed with synth-driven throwback grooves (“Restart”), falsetto-adorned soul-pop (“Money on My Mind”), and epic ballads (some created with Adele collaborators Eg White and Fraser T. Smith) the album is accessible and instantly memorable. Although Smith shines when the songs are brisk or doleful, it’s the midtempo numbers—“I’m Not the Only One” and gospel-inflected “Stay with Me”—where his finely tuned phrasing and velvet falsetto inspire chills
