CityLife

Brandi Carlile - The Story (Columbia)

THE Washington-born singer-songwriter is tipped as one to watch for 2008, and her chances can't be harmed by her current single Turpentine being featured in the US medical drama Grey's Anatomy.

That song is a beautifully wistful affair in which the sense of longing and regret is stoked by ever-maudlin cellos and the timbre of Carlile's voice, rich and pure in its low register but with a bluesy grain to it.

The comparisons with Bonnie Raitt are not wide of the mark.

Carlile's also got a little trademark half-yodel, her voice cracking to a higher note, which she has the good sense to use only sparingly. If this is a voice which you could listen to all day, the material is not always equal to the talent.

The title track, for instance, winds up into a leaden piece of guitar rock which resembles a slowed-down Big Country song. It's far from the best setting for that voice.

For the rest, there are some unassuming gems like Wasted, the piano, sparse percussion and backing vocals framing Carlile's imploring vocal perfectly. Josephine is a song which deftly treads that line between country, folk and blues where Norah Jones has worked so successfully.

Carlile is, arguably, a more intriguing prospect because she can be so convincingly bluesy, but in a mellow way.

Released on April 21

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