Available on: LaFace LP

Compared to many people The-Dream and Tricky Stewart write and produce for – Rihanna and Electrik Red, for instance – Ciara seems pretty reserved as a person. Even on ‘Ride’, the first single from Basic Instinct that saw her brag over one of the year’s most triumphant R’n’B productions (“I market it so good, they can’t wait to try me … they love the way I ride the beat like a motherfuckin’ freak”), she sounds like she’s trying to justify her swagger under examination; like she’s not quite sure she believes those boasts.

More measured tracks like ‘I Run It’ and ‘You Can Get It’ are where Ciara really shines here. Both are the sort of twinkling slow jams that The-Dream knocks out in his sleep, but its in their intimate environs that Ciara sounds most at home. Even on ‘Turn It Up’, a fizzing sex track, it’s champagne-fueled in the context of a romantic night in rather than a club, and ‘Speechless’, the album’s second single, is a celebration of devotion and reliance (“I’m gon’ do my best to make sure you never leave / and boy you do your best ’cause you’re the reason that I breathe”).

Ciara sounds so good on these tracks that it’s a shame they made the standard concession to chart electro hip-hop with ‘Turn It Up’ – she just sounds awkward being fed Black Eyed Peas style lyrics, and it’s not like Usher or producer T-Minus get out of second gear. But overall, Basic Instinct‘s a very welcome, if steady and rarely spectacular return for Ciara, and an endearingly understated R’n’B record to close the year on.

Tam Gunn