Since releasing her debut, Darning The Dream, Sarah Ellen Hughes has gone on to win the 2010 International Jazz Singing Competition, “Jazz Voices” held in Lithuania. And this follow-up sees the singer perform with even more elegance, conviction and attention to detail. The ace up the singer's sleeve is her wonderful backing vocal arrangements, which make the music take flight in a quite spectacular way. The multilayered vocals on ‘My Favourite Things’, in particular, are terrific. Hughes has now found an exciting vehicle for her vocal arranging skills in Sector 7 – four singers plus piano, bass and drums – who feature on the album's final track, Chick Corea's ‘Spain’.

Elsewhere, a funky ‘It's Alright With Me’ recalls the great, head-nodding ‘Love For Sale’ from the debut, while ‘Take Me Away’ demonstrates a real songwriter's ear. Nearly all of the players on The Story So Far featured on the debut, so these are musicians that Hughes is deeply familiar with. The exception is guitarist Chris Allard, who makes telling and perfectly judged contributions to four tracks of which ‘Corcovado/If You Never Come To Me’ and ‘Little Wing’ are both standouts.