Lady Sovereign - 'Jigsaw' (Midget Records) Released 13/04/09

Following the wake of her 2006 debut ‘Public Warning’ Lady Sovereign, the lily-white female ruler of her genre would fall on bad times after being dropped by both Island and Def Jam. But if everything was rosy, grime just wouldn’t be the same and coming out the other side in one piece, ‘Jigsaw’ attempts redress the balance and set the record straight.

All well and good if you can grind your axe eloquently rather than simply revel in a well rehearsed mildly aggressive first-person narrative. A repetitious harvest of self-serving big ups, ‘Bang Bang’, ‘Pennies’ and ‘I Got The Goods’ are standard fare when it comes to an egotistical lack of substance, as is the thinly veiled self-defensive stance of ‘Got You Dancing!’ and ‘Guitar’.

What Lady Sovereign sounds like she really wants is acceptance, letting her guard down through the title track’s heartfelt honesty and the self-explanatory ‘Let’s Be Mates’ - one of the early highlights. But when placed alongside the trivial pop of ‘Student Union’ and the Barry White vs. Flight of the Conchords ‘Food Play’ they lack consequence and don’t inspire sympathy.

With 50% of ‘Jigsaw’ resembling little more than the results of a youth scheme designed to keep feral kids off the estate and out of trouble, those expecting controversy should prepare for disappointment. The only controversial offering being the musical interpolation of The Cure’s ‘Close To Me' in album forerunner ‘So Human’; an interpolation employed, with permission from Robert Smith, by and allegedly stolen from Brighton based singer-songwriter Thomas Jules.

Inane ownership issues aside ‘Jigsaw’ ultimately offers little beyond what is musically accepted and lyrically expected, which is a lacking shame and not an excuse. Still, a bus full of larey school kids can’t be wrong can they?