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Who? I know what you mean, I'd never heard of her until my friend thrust the CD into my hand and said, "You have got to listen to this". Now my friend Simon, for it is he, has discerning musical taste and past experience has proved that if he says I need to listen to an artist that I have been hitherto unaware of, I should do just that. Again he proved to me that he knows what I like in music better than I do myself, and Nerina Pallot is an artist that I should have known about years ago. I did a bit of research regarding the artist I question which I will share with you before I get down to the music. The first thing I found is that she is a difficult women to find out anything about, her record label run official website is selling its space and contains no real information, NME has almost nothing to say and a handful of fan sites are similarly quiet. I finally managed to discover that she is Australian, but had a nomadic upbringing and she is now based in the UK, Brixton no less. She is about thirty and this is the second album, the first being, 2002`s Dear Frustrated Superstar.

In an age when most female singers can only find fame in that cheesy girl band format that is more about selling your sex appeal than your talent, Nerina proves that you can be both attractive and musically talented. She is a singer songwriter in the same vein as Carole King, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Tori Amos and sites the likes of Steely Dan as a direct influence. She has opened for Sheryl Crow (who is too easy a comparison) and Semisonic and has also collaborated with Canadian band Delirium. So on to the album, Fires.

The album opens with the most Crow-esque number, Everybody's Gone to War and makes a strong anti war statement with very simple language and in its use of words it is reminiscent of Joan Osborne's, If God Was One of Us. Musically it is an upbeat acoustic guitar driven infectious number that Sheryl herself would probably kill for. Halfway Home follows with a more Alanis Morrissette feel to it, heavy on the groove but more laidback This is also a song that you feel fellow antipodean, Ms Imbuglia is dying to be given, accessible to the pop market but with its integrity intact, serious messages in a light package is what seems to be going on her. Each song seems to invoke a range of female singers but there is still enough of her own ability shining through to make this singer songwriter more than just this years Tanita Tikarum. Damascus is the current single and like the track that follows Idaho, is an introverted reflective vocally glorious ballad. Although the up beat tracks such as the opener and All Good People are great songs, what Nerina does best is the more laidback numbers, Geek Love and Nickindia being the finest moments, haunting vocals over minimal accompaniment to deliver some great "less is more" attitude to the songs.

As I said, references spring to mind with frightening regularity as you listen to the album, and for a relatively unknown artist the quality of the work is outstanding. Those who are looking for something exceptional amongst the current wave of girl singers can forget Melua, Carlton and whatever Dido's surname is and head straight for Fires, it's a fire that will be burning bright for many years to come.

Learn more about this author, Dave Franklin.
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