Newcomer to the music world is 24 year old Scot singer of South African decent and a former medical student Adele Emeli Sande, better known by her stage name Emeli Sande. Sande’s album comes after working with artists like Professor ‘Read all about it’ Green, and later co-writing material for TV talent shows featuring Leona Lewis to Susan Boyle, prompting Simon Cowell to label her as his “favorite songwriter of the moment”.

Sande brings on a good collection of 14 songs, including a bonus track. Her pop – R & B influenced songs are easily digestible, while her vocals are close to those we have loved like the towering style of Adele, Whitney Houston and at times soft to that of Duffy.

Opener Heaven is the club classic topped with soaring, plaintive vocals and a good pick for the start of the album. My Kind of Love has styles of pop singer Leona Lewis, a fairly good chorus, along with Sande’s amazing voice that wafers through. The horn-laden R & B Next to Me comes close to the sound of Celine Dion, wherein Sande brings in dance beats once again to pull you on the dance floor, a welcome change from her slow up-tempo playlist of slow songs. The piano based Clown and River are well produced, wherein the young lass’s honey toned voice is the high point. Daddy is a heartfelt ballad and taken in a lighter vein, it’s a song for all fathers to know what they are doing. It is a personal statement and a sincere song. The writing and performances display confidence and maturity something rather rare in a brand new artist.

The theme of Our Version of Events fall into relationships, the journey of being with the one you love and the ending of it all. On the opener Heaven Sande gushes with energy, with heavy instrumentation and towering vocal hooks. On Hope she brings in songstress Alicia Keys, who collaborates on songwriting the song. Sadly, the song is not such a great effort despite the collaboration. It speaks about hope for the future of mankind. In Maybe the song dwells about a crumbling relationship, while the luggage song we’d say is the bluesy Suitcase packing up feelings about leaving a lover and the sort. Sande brings out sadness in the best way she can, in the piano played Clown.  But despite all this her lyrics sometimes go wayward and fall in a mess, as seen in "If you're too big to follow rivers, how you ever gonna find the sea?" in the song River. Logically why would someone want to find the sea and on finding it, what does one do? Another metaphor she used is Mountains that talks about the theme of ambition. On the self explanatory ‘Daddy’ she speaks of bad behavior. "But friends keep telling you what he did last night / how many girls he kissed, how many he liked."

Sande’s delivery is the highlight of this album. From the opener Heaven then My Kind of Love and onwards, the mid tempo and piano tinged songs, are channeled in the right direction. Sande has the vocal strength and the ability to carry her songs right through the hearts of her audience and no matter if downers Where I Sleep, Suitcase, Maybe,  Lifetime pass through, her other tracks show her in good light. The most memorable would be My Kind of love, Daddy, Next to me and Hope. Her final track on this barely 49 minute album is the superb Read All about It (Pt III) which turns her chart-topping collaboration with Professor Green into a ballad about speaking out and making your voice heard. Sandes' impressive vocal range and song-writing skills, backed by a great mix of brass, strings and catchy choruses, stick in your mind for sometime.

Throughout the album Sande knows what to pick and play. The music is not cluttered, compelling, without getting into too many musical angles. Thus the production is polished, with equal amount of effort and grace. The production on the ballads is fine, and although some of them are very moving like the soaring My kind of love, songs like Maybe, Suitcase, Lifetime are directionless and slightly incomplete. But the good point is that the majority of the fourteen songs in this collection are slow to mid-tempo, which serves in showing the finer colors and nuances of her fine voice to splendid effect. Breaking the law is devoid of clutter and is more guitar charged with a neat chorus line and great vocal prowess. The album ends with a version of Read All about It, the number one song she performed with Professor Green, showing off a bolder side.

The songbird is all set for the big time and is surely the next big thing to happen to pop music. It’s no wonder that the album won her critic's choice award at the recent 2012 Brit Awards. It can be said that ‘Our Version of Events’ is to Sande what ‘19’ was to Adele, although Sande’s first name was Adele, but really no connection to that at all.  Sande has a great voice, great song writing abilities and a face to take off her music to the masses. Though she treads on a territory passed by many other singers – songwriters, if she keeps to her own music and makes it herself, she has a great success ahead of her. Keep a lookout for Sande in the months to come. Lyrics included.

Rating: ****

Reviewed By Verus Ferreira