1		Waste of Time	2:58
2		Back Packing	3:34
3		Hush	3:38
4		Let It Rain	3:47
5		No Man Can	3:12
6		Walking On Water	3:22
7		In Your Hands	3:31
8		Checkmate	3:19
9		Team Player	4:06
10		Make Up Sex	3:41
11		Don't Call It Love	3:33
12		Big When I Was Little	3:49
13		Euston Road	3:13

Backing Vocals – Rhys Downing
Cello – Dale Culliford, Nick Trygstad, Simon Turner
Guitar – Luke Potashnick
Keyboards, Drums, Guitar, Bass – Steve Robson
Keyboards, Bass, Programmed By, Guitar – Matt Prime
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Eliza Doolittle
Lead Vocals – Eliza Caird
Lead Vocals, Beats, Piano – Eliza Doolittle
Violin – Alex Stemp, Paulette Bayley, Pete Whitfield, Sarah Brandwood-Spencer

British pop singer Eliza Caird, better known as Eliza Doolittle, stormed the charts in 2010 with her rambunctious, smartly produced self-titled debut. That album, with its mix of jazzy pop music, was a Day-Glo showcase for her big personality, sexy flirtatiousness, and resonant vocal chops. Certified platinum in 2011, it helped propel Doolittle to bona fide pop star status, and whet her fans' appetite for her next move. However, rather than jump back into the studio and crank out another album, Doolittle took her time. She expanded into modeling, and even dated Good Charlotte's Benji Madden, with whom she ultimately broke up. Free of Madden and with an eye on revealing a more mature version of herself, Doolittle's 2013 sophomore album, In Your Hands, goes far toward moving her in a more grown-up direction. Working with a handful of writer/producers including Kid Harpoon (Mayer Hawthorne, Jessie Ware) and Steve Robson (Kings of Leon, Paloma Faith, Cher), In Your Hands is a sophisticated, contemporary dance and soul album that takes its cues from the sound and style of '90s R&B stars like Mariah Carey and En Vogue. Although there are certainly more than a few '60s-inflected numbers, including the infectious, gospel-and-blues-inflected "Back Packing," the Brill Building-esque "Hush," and the Jackson Five-sounding "Let It Rain," In Your Hands is less a post-Adele, post-Amy Winehouse album and more of a contemporary pop album in the vein of Doolittle's contemporaries like Jessie J. and Leona Lewis. Ultimately, the focus on In Your Hands is less on Doolittle's cheeky persona and more on her passionate lyrics and warm vocals, a change she can back up with her creativity and talent. ---Matt Collar, allmusic.com

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1	Moneybox	3:04
2	Rollerblades	3:03
3	Go Home	2:57
4	Skinny Genes	3:05
5	Mr Medicine 	3:27
6	Missing	3:42
7	Back To Front	3:41
8	A Smokey Room	2:53
9	So High	2:41
10	Nobody	3:00
11	Pack Up	3:11
12	Police Car	3:21
13	Empty Hand	3:05

Let’s start with the voice. It’s a beautiful, expressive thing: high and clear, with the occasional emotive crack. The pretty melodies and tweeting harmonies (literally, in some cases) are rendered snoozily, as if Eliza’s vocals were recorded just after waking and stretching from a dream-filled sleep. This is clearly a good thing.

Melodically there's not much to argue with either. Eliza shares John Sebastian’s knack of being able to make songwriting sound like a lucky accident. There’s no sign of effort or strain. And no idea is too silly for consideration.

She’s great at guileless tumbledown melodic runs – like the carefree Rollerblades, or the call-and-response chorus to Pack Up. The latter being one of only a few songs to use a sample of something older as an integral part of the songwriting process.

As a result, a lot of this album sounds like it fell off the back of a Tom and Jerry cartoon, with the occasional swear word or whistled-out sex reference (Skinny Genes) to remind us of the modern world. But that happy, random quality can have unfortunate side-effects, such as a lyric sheet which is far too pleased with itself.

It’s a bit ripe to hear Eliza snarkily ragging on someone else’s clichéd lifestyle – “Yeah, cos that’s so original” – in A Smokey Room when so many of her ideas started out on other people’s records. Moneybox would like to be a sharper dig at consumer culture than it really is. And the rhyme of “do me a favour” with “jingle your change, sir” ends the chorus on a jarring note.

In the end, it’s a matter of taste. If you can handle a lot of wacky in your pop music, there’s a lovely album here waiting for you. If not, Corinne Bailey Rae is over there. ---Fraser McAlpine, BBC Review

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