This year's best music has already been graced by great albums from Women singers, PJ Harvey and k.d. lang among established goddesses, and Laura Veirs, Lhasa, Joanna Newsom or Polly Paulusma among prominent new voices.
Now's the time for New Jersey native Erin Moran, a singer presenting her first album under the of A Girl Called Eddy, who has released one of the greatest debuts of the year.
There's a certain passionate yet contemplative maturity to everything in this album. Certainly her voice which is on par and possibly evocative of Beth Orton or Margo Timmins, to name two contemporaries, and even more, in spirit and brightness to the great Dusty Springfield.
Then there's the matter of the lyrics, here's someone who can capture the poetry in melancholia, songs about love and loves which never yield to sentimentality. Whether it's a gorgeous song for her mother, "Kathleen," or childhood in "Girls Can Really Tear You Up Inside," or the stunning "Heartache," "Did You See The Moon Tonight" and "Somebody Hurt You."
Finally, there's the music itself, melodies that who found the perfect producer in ex-Pulp Richard Hawley. To me, the spirit of Bergen White, Scott Walker, Lee Hazzlewood or even Phil Spector -the latter, particularly in "The Long Goodbye"- are present here. Hawley's guitar speaks from the heart and the arrangements by Colin Elliott, the album co-producer, flawlessly convey a mood that can even owe Francoise Hardy or Gainsbourg.
In sum, this a moving and delicious debut by an outstanding singer and composer. "A Girl Called Eddy" is a gem.