Jodie Marie: Mountain Echo – review

There's a Duffyish hue to Jodie Marie 's first album, insofar as she's also a young Welsh singer whose sound has been refined by Bernard Butler. But while his hand may be on the production tiller – his big strings and wall-of-sound drama make their inevitable (and generally agreeable) appearance – it feels as if Jodie Marie is, at the very least, co-steering the ship. Whereas Duffy's plumped-up sound was indebted to Lulu, Jodie Marie's velvety, bittersweet touch suggests the emergence of a female Richard Hawley , the wonder being that a 20-year-old can weave such an intimate spell. The album-closing title track is the best place to begin; co-written with Ed Harcourt as a tribute to Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, it's a gentle breeze of a song that allows her voice to drift in and out of focus as she sings: "When the sun leaves the earth I will follow." Greeney-Blue is simply a guitar, strumming one chord, and her voice, lush and devastated, wondering how to apologise "for what I've done". Beautiful.