Dazzling arrangements, superb playing and, right at its heart, the dynamic, mellifluous pipes of Polly Gibbons. This highly anticipated second album on Resonance Records by the singer-songwriter, a Jazz FM Award nominee for Vocalist of the Year, affirms that her star is clearly in the ascendant. Subtly referencing the jazz, soul, gospel and blues influences that have shaped her as an artist, the album grabs you from the get-go with a coruscating arrangement of ‘The Ability To Swing’, complete with eight-piece horn section. The oft-recorded 1931 Depression-era song ‘Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams’ sees Gibbons effortlessly float on top of Ray Brinker's shuffle beat, while on songs such as Spencer Williams' 1928 Storyville classic, ‘Basin Street Blues’, Aretha Franklin's ‘Dr. Feelgood’ and an intensely moving ‘Sack Full of Dreams’, you're completely swept along by the sheer exuberance and seductiveness of the singing. The album also includes a trio of fine originals penned by Gibbons and pianist James Pearson – the punchy big band swagger of ‘You Can't Just’, the glorious (and award-winning) ‘Midnight Prayer’, and the absolute gem of a title track, possibly the pick of the three. Bonus cut ‘Don't Be On The Outside’, which Gibbons sang in a memorable big band version at last year's Jazz Voice concert, is heard live in a swinging small group arrangement. Here, and throughout, what impresses most is how Gibbons is so completely inside the music.