If you haven’t heard of Cathy Davey before, then here’s a little background to her. ‘Tales of Silversleeve’ is her second album, and the follow up to the critically acclaimed debut ‘Something llk’. She has recently won the Metero Award for Best Irish Female, the Irish version of the Brits.

Now forget everything in the first paragraph, because usually when someone wins big awards, you find their albums are full of middle of the road, bland music.

‘Tales of Silversleeve’ delivers 11 slices of quirky pop songs. After a few listens you’ll find every song sticking in your head, and you won’t be able to get the hooks out of there. Surefire single ‘Mr Kill’ is a simple and repetitive song, which is the catchiest of all.

The album reminds me of early Cardigans, with Cathy’s sweet delicate voice somewhere between Nina Persson and (Way Beyond Blue era) Cerys Matthews.

Whereas most solo female singers, seem to just turn up and sing to songs written, performed and produced by all star production teams, every song on this album is produced and written by Cathy, and she plays most of the instruments, which seperates her from all of the competition.

This is an album which should launch Cathy Davey from an Irish star to a star in the UK and beyond.