Born to be mild: the women cooking up aural comfort food

Published on Monday 30 August 2010 16:09

Tune your wireless away from the brash pop of Radio 1 and towards the calmer confines of big sister Radio 2 and you'll find a range of women playing acoustic guitars or pianos, looking to the past and emoting for all they're worth.

They're not retro in the Amy Winehouse soul diva sense - there's more of a mid-1970s AOR feel going on. As a triumph of substance over style, it's a necessary alternative in these extravagant times.

The best bet for a big hit looks like 31-year-old Rumer, a Pakistan-born singer-songwriter whose pieces are finally falling into place after a decade of trying to make it in the music business. Her first single, Slow, a slush-fest that could have been a hit for The Carpenters, is in the shops this week and has been A-listed by Radio 2.

More impressively, she's being lined up to support Elton John, while Mr Smooth himself, Burt Bacharach, has already had a private audience. "You can't get higher validation than that," she says. "I just burst into tears when I heard Burt Bacharach thought I was good."

There's also a touch of Dusty Springfield in Rumer's sound, and the same can be said of Diane Birch, a New York-based daughter of a preacherman who calls herself an "old soul".

Her debut album, Bible Belt, is equally steeped in the 70s smoothness of Carole King and Laura Nyro. She had help recording her piano soul from veterans including Betty Wright, George Porter of The Meters and The Jive Five's Eugene Pitt. It's as if the past three decades never happened.

Slightly more up-to-the-minute is Lauren Pritchard, raised in Tennessee but now based in Shepherd's Bush, London. She's a 22-year-old gunning for Duffy fans by working with Eg White, the man who co-wrote Duffy's hit Warwick Avenue. Her forthcoming debut album, Wasted in Jackson, is a slick package, though her voice isn't as individual as those she hopes to emulate.

Or try Londoner Tiffany Page. She's got tattoos and everything. "Courtney Love is the reason I'm doing this," she has said, so a support slot with Love's band Hole in May must have been the best night of her life.

Next month's debut album is coloured by electric guitars and big singalong choruses, yet it's still tame enough that her claims of rock'n'roll rebellion ring a little hollow.

The album I keep returning to, though, is Lissie's Catching a Tiger. The first long-player from Elisabeth Maurus of Illinois is in classic mainstream Americana territory - a bit country, a bit folk, a lot of Fleetwood Mac at their mega-selling mid-70s best.

She breaks no new ground but that's the appeal of all of these new singers. They're making the musical equivalent of a battered sofa, tired but comfy in all the right places. And if you find they're not as good as the real thing, you can always dig out Tapestry and Rumours yet again.