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Especially when the first track, Jazzy Soul a la Mode, turned out to be one of those 'recipe' songs. You know what I mean, cringey lyrics such as 'Start with a pinch of vibes...a teaspoon of Flamenco guitar...'. Hm. But then I have a personal hatred of 'recipe' song lyrics, so on with the album I ploughed.

To be fair, Mia Miata's Urban Arias were slickly produced, and my spirits lifted a little with Pulse to the World, which had a certain beauty, being slightly moodier and just generally easy on the ear.

Next came the affirmation packed On The Humble, full of karmic, positive, albeit slightly random messages, (no need for self-help books here!). The relentless use of synthesiser sax was on the naff side, but the gorgeous vocal harmonies made up for it.

Urban Aria was the slightly inevitable 'going back to my afro roots' track, which was very sombre and yes, quite Nina Simone-esque in style, which is no bad thing. It added a much needed pinch of diversity. (Oh no, I just said 'pinch'! This review isn't turning into a 'recipe', I promise...)

I've found myself at Promise Land (not literally, I might add. And isn't it supposed to be 'Promised Land'?), and Miata's, I hate to say it but hit and miss warble-cum-honk is starting to wear a little thin, not to mention the rather self righteous lyrics, some of which, throughout the album, had my brows furrowed as I tried to make sense of it all, one example being, 'You've got me open like tea tree oil',' and another gem, 'Your presence in hypnotic, neo-classic, and possessing the elements of metaphysics...' Eh? Answers on a postcard please...Or have we just looked up all the long words in the dictionary, Mia?

The synthesised 'jazzy' sounds and beats on this album were the sort that disappeared in the UK a good fifteen years ago, and with good reason.

I can see what Miata is trying to do here, but it's all a bit reminiscent of hotel cabaret. Not bad of her type, but Sade she ain't and ultimately the recipe she cooked up left me cold.