Nerina Pallot - Fires

I've been waiting to buy this album for ages and now, I have it. I first heard of Nerina in The Times: a review of this album and an ad back last year. So I logged onto her website and listened to snippets of this album. Apparently that's all I needed. This album opens with the Sheryl Crow like Everybody's Going To War. Very catchy, definitely draws you in. The lyrics are clearly well thought through. Track 3 Damascus is a brilliantly moody song. Beautiful to listen to, Nerina's voice is clear yet just a little fizzy. I can't quite describe it. This is then followed by Idaho interesting track, she sounds more American here, though not a bad thing by any means. This album is just great to listen to and gets better the more you listen to it. Songs I didn't quite like on first hearing have grown on me. The only song yet to grow on me is Heart Attack, there's something about it that puts me off.
That said, the standout track is Sophia. i love this song. It's clever, subtle with incredible vocals. I can't stop listening to it.
I hope her third album is just as good!

Edited 24th September 2006: As I write this, Nerina had released a re-recorded version of Sophia as her new single. This one no longer just uses Nerina and her piano, but now features strings and drums. (This is the version featured in the video with the fire. On her site, if you press on Entertainment and click Sophia, it plays the original) This is probably in order to tie it in more with the rest of the album and to make it more appealing to the British public. I have to say I preferred it sparser. It seems to have lost it's emotional punch now that it has the extra instruments. But maybe that's just me.