Laura Mvula creates her trademark festival of vocals on “The Dreaming Room,” an ambitious album full of rhythms and drama, with some songs suitable for recital halls and others for the dance ...

It’s not that there’s anything lacking in the writing quality on Ms Mvula’s second album (or third if you include her powerful orchestral revisiting of Sing To The Moon), it’s just that its overall ...

Laura Mvula is a classically trained vocalist with an orchestral pop style all her own. Her second album is filled with her rich and moving voice and is laden with sonic surprises.

Laura Mvula's new album, The Dreaming Room, comes out June 17. Image: Courtesy of the artist Note: NPR's First Listen audio comes down after the album is released.

Laura Mvula creates her trademark festival of vocals on "The Dreaming Room," an ambitious album full of rhythms and drama, with some songs suitable for recital halls and others for the dance floor.

And there are other moments, too, when Mvula’s nifty trick of following an intimate, confessional verse with a life-affirming chorus that’s the sonic equivalent of a blaze of bright white light pays ...

U.K. singer-songwriter Laura Mvula first broke through in 2013 with a full-length debut, Sing To The Moon, and a fully formed sound that bridged eras and genres with the aid of bright, elastic pop ...

Laura Mvula creates her trademark festival of vocals on "The Dreaming Room," an ambitious album full of rhythms and drama, with some songs suitable for recital halls and others for the dance floor.

Laura Mvula creates her trademark festival of vocals on “The Dreaming Room” (Columbia US), an ambitious album full of rhythms and drama, with some songs suitable for recital halls and others ...