Miss French: The Trials and Tribulations of Miss French Pt Two (Spirit of Play/digital outlets)

Miss French is Julie Foa'i and the reason for the long gap between her 2016 album The Trials and Tribulations of Miss French Pt 1 and this is perhaps because she's been so busy managing the enterprise that is the acclaimed Te Vaka.

Married to that band's mainman/songwriter Opetaia – who produced, arranged and wrote the music for some of the 12 songs – Julie steps well away from the Pasifika music of the band and into the world of originals which are closer to orchestrated and swinging Broadway-like show tunes, sassy ballads and some pointed lyrics, as on the string-enhanced By Their Actions “you shall know them, not by the way they comb their hair/fancy clothing that they wear . . .”.

These are often big, mainstream songs (Coffee's Getting Cold, Dance Just For Fun) which sound tailored for a sophisticated club or cabaret setting, but here too are uptempo soft-rock funk (the hip-shaking Imperceptibly) and horns energising the arrangements (Differences Blues).

Ancient Time is an expansive ballad about memory and coming “from a different time” which would not be out of place as the centrepiece in a musical alongside the more wistful Sixteen Again, Faraway is a fine slice of MOR pop for radio and Talkback gets close to guitar rock.

As with many such songs in these idioms, Foa'i sometimes tries to say too much lyrically when a little editing might have made for more immediate impact.

If you didn't hear Part 1 – and I suspect most didn't – then this will come as a surprising direction from someone in the Te Vaka camp.

So set aside any such Pasifika preconceptions and consider this album within the mainstream genres like show tunes where it is entirely comfortable.

Perhaps the most mainstream album Elsewhere has ever written about?

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You can hear this album at Spotify here.