Beulah

There are plenty of debut albums full of promise.Yet seldom do you encounter a first record so fully-realised that you are left wondering where such transcendent talent can have come from. In the 1960s when the world was still new,it seemed common enough for the likes of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen to spring fully-formed with immaculate, mature debuts. In more recent times,Norah Jones has struck a similar chord.But it's a rare phenomenon. Now comes Beulah with Mabel And I, a thrillingly magical new voice with an album to restore your faith in the traditional songwriting values of memorable melodies and intelligent lyrics, sung from the heart without artifice or contrivance. The dozen songs on Mabel And I are all born of Beulah's own experience. Yet like all the great songwriters, she has the power to strike a chord in the listener's own life. ''The songs are a record of everything I've experienced from childhood until now and they're like little presents to myself, '' she says. ''But if someone can interpret them and find something that relates to themselves, that's the most exciting thing of all.It reminds me why I do what I do.It's about communicating the healing power of song.'