Nutini’s second album sees the interluding years maturing Nutini’s sound, veering away from his puppy-eyed pop of yesteryear. When I was a teen looking for lovely boys playing music to obsess over though, Nutini didn’t merit a spot in the Top 5 (there are 3 cute members of McFly after all) and he’s now attempting to fully exploit that voice that sounds like eating a sandwich at the beach. Nutini wears his musical heart on his sleeve on “Sunny Side Up” with his musical references being more obvious than the imminent separation of Jordan and Peter Andre. Country, folk bluegrass, blues and big band feature heavily with Johnny Cash and his contemporaries being obvious heroes. The album is let down by the unchangeable element of Nutini’s age which detracts from his style of voice and lyrics, as it conflicts with the world-weariness and life experience as yet largely missing.
