James Blunt has divided public opinion arguably more then any other artist in recent years.

To coin an overused metaphor he is like musical marmite, hated by many but by the simple fact that he has managed to stick around this long presumably adored in equal measure.

Upon hearing the opening acoustic chords of Carry You Home, some listeners may fear that they’ve stumbled into a time warp as they do bare a very striking resemblance to those from Blunt’s smash hit You’re Beautiful. Initially the only real difference to his previous hit is the smattering of slide guitar over the opening chords.

On this occasion the focus of Blunt’s slightly over emotional lyrics is the plight of a runaway girl escaping from her home town. 

It is fair to say that Mr Blunt has found the formula that works best for him and judging by this showing he is sticking to it religiously. Poignant acoustic guitar and piano combo building to an electric guitar backed chorus. Then back to the piano/ acoustic guitar for a bit before a more upbeat section near the end of the track. Simple, but it does work.      

It is unlikely that Carry You Home will win over legions of new fans to Blunt’s cause but this is quite an enjoyable track even if it’s not to everyone’s taste.  An excess of radio airplay could well kill this track but there is enough here to like. Unfortunately for those who do despise James Blunt the signs are there that this could repeat the chart success of his previous releases.