This is the London quartet’s debut album and includes dance club favourite Eeeeaaoow, that was released last year as a limited edition 12” vinyl release. While dance is at the core of this new album it also offers a diverse menu of music, including some potentially charting pop singles.

The album opens in grand style with stuttered keyboard bleeps, powerful beat and attractive group vocals. Add a strong melody, R&B vibe, and you have a song that could chart strongly while becoming a major staple of dance clubs. Next up is Eeeeaaoow (featuring Bounty Killer) and I’m left in no doubt why this is so popular with dance clubs. A powerful reggae-tinged, quick-fire male rapper leads off, and is then joined by strong group backing vocals, superb instrumental arrangement, a massive melody and a magnetic dance vibe. The next track Losing My Control is a heady mix of jazz and soul underwritten by a distinctive dance beat, and overlaid by some pretty solo vocals with swooning backing choruses thrown in for good measure. It’s another potential hit single.

The pace then drops with Exsy and a mesmerising, sweet female vocal leads off underpinned by electronic blips, haunting backing vocals and subtle orchestral sounds. It ends up being a moving pop song and yet another possible single. The diversity continues with songs like the rocky Strangest Thing, pop/R&B Iee We Down, and beautiful acoustic and slow moving simplicity of Slow. The second half of the album is chock-full of tantalizing, emotional songs ending on the glacial-paced, loving tones of What Are You Waiting For?

STRANGEST THINGS an excellent debut album and offers an extraordinarily broad musical landscape, underpinned by strong melody, intelligent lyrics and well-judged performances. A great start indeed for Freeform Five.

4/5