It looks like the issue of love is something that comes naturally to Knii Lante. It strikes me how the love theme runs through almost all his songs. Talk of “Baby Take Good Care”, “Baby be Mine”, “You”, “When You Love Someone” and “Humanity” which pays homage to frontline health workers. All his songs ooze with love. Then comes the latest one “I Just Want...

Sam Ostler’s new single, “Lights,” then. It unfolds less like a sudden, intrusive glare and more like the slow, determined burn of a really good stage light finally finding its mark after a prolonged blackout. It’s pop, yes, vibrant and undeniably contemporary as advertised – clean lines, clear intentions. Yet, there’s a certain satisfying heft beneath the melodic uplift, a feeling that these notes...