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Daydreams  >>

Daydreams is Alice Martineau's debut album. A new addition to the recent plethora of young female singer-songwriters, Alice at least has a more interesting background than most, her uncle (Tom Allom) having been Judas Priest's house producer throughout the 1980s. Martineau also has the misfortune to suffer from cystic fibrosis, a condition that will eventually require heart, liver and lung transplants. Musically speaking, Martineau has been described as landing somewhere between Bjork and Natalie Imbruglia. That's about right, if "between" means one foot from Imbruglia and 2000 miles from Bjork, for this is thoroughly mainstream stuff.

Martineau has a sweet and fairly affecting voice, but as yet it's unschooled and lacks idiosyncrasy and drama. Nevertheless, there are some fine moments, occurring almost exclusively during those tracks produced by Marius De Vries (co-incidentally one-time producer of Bjork). Here De Vries draws together the album's chugging beats and pleasant programming, adds strings and techno riffs and lends depth to Martineau's voice. The result is a lush and altogether more satisfying whole. Stand-outs include the big production of "The Right Time" and the quirky summer-pop of "Forget What I Said". So, there is potential here to move far beyond what is just a tolerable debut. --Dominic Wills

If I Fall  >>

The Right Time  >>