Jessie Ware: What’s Your Pleasure? review – One of the best albums of 2020 so far

Combining smoky disco and subtle house music, Jessie Ware takes us on a journey of aural pleasure on her fourth album. What’s Your Pleasure? – produced by James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco, who has previously produced albums for Little Boots, Foals and Little Dragon – is probably the most satisfying record of 2020 so far and certainly Ware’s finest.

From the Parisian-chic bounce of Ooh La La to the gravitational pull of Adore You, which sounds like a Pantha Du Prince track draped in sensual R&B melodies, the soundscape of this album is a workout for the senses.

The title track, with its whispered verses that tease out temptation like a form of prolonged torture, is designed for fingers running through long hair and hips swinging under flashing lights. The club thud of Mirage (Don’t Stop) verges on sinful. Read My Lips contains flashes of 1980s Janet Jackson, another woman who knows how to flirt her way through a verse, and the synths on the intoxicating The Kill descend like a dark cloud, evaporating into a shower of lust and blind devotion.

The Londoner closes with the gospel-powered Remember Where You Are, which offers tenderness to a city and a heart in turmoil. “You should let me save the day,” she sings and, for a moment, it feels like she has.