A review by Andrew Quinn.
"And I'm divided Between penguins and cats, But it's not about what animal you've got, It's about being able to fly, It's about dying nine times."
So begins one of the best songs on an excellent album. In "Belfast (Penguins and Cats)", teenage singer/songwriter/guitarist and British pop sensation Katie Melua sings of her time in the Irish city as a child. This excellent song is far from lonely on this very rich album. Melua's voice alone is incredibly developed in spite of her youth, with a certain quality that allows her to sing the low, raspy parts and the higher, more piercing notes with an equal air of serenity. Indeed, Katie has often been compared to Norah Jones... but let us not get bogged down in precedents. This teen has certainly come into her own - she doesn't have (thankfully, in my opinion) the country-ish stylings that Jones adds on such tracks as "What Am I To You" (Feels Like Home, Blue Note) but adds a bit of a honky-tonk feel that is evident in the extremely well-sung "My Aphrodisiac Is You" in addition to the uptempo pop-jazz blend that works so well in the extremely catchy "Crawling Up A Hill". One of the things that amazes me about this singer is her enormous range - she can do the deep, throaty blues-y ballads and one track later belt out a higher, edgier and faster little ditty. All in all, is Melua just another Norah Jones? Not at all. She has the same (if not more) vocal abilities than Norah, but uses her stellar pipes to produce a much more exciting album.
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