BLUE ROSES "Blue Roses" (XL / Salvia) seven / ten

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Though Laura Groves has been knocking about the underground British folk scene since 2007, this eponymous release is the 21 year old's debut offering under the Blue Roses guise. Entirely self-produced, the album was recorded across bedrooms, churches and piano shops in West Yorkshire, boasting musical splendour and grandness whilst being laden exquisitely with delicate beauty and youthful naivety.

Groves draws massively from personal experience, the album abundant in heart-wrenching tales of being left alone and failing relationships, capturing our hearts in the charming and compelling tale of 'Doubtful Comforts' - "You're so good at getting my hopes up/ Where they don't belong/ I can't reach them"; and tenderly echoing her much cited heroine Kate Bush.

The luscious vocal of the record is an elegant delight, sweeping throughout and generally being used to great effect, even if, at some points beginning to grate in a style not unlike that of a pre-pubescent choir boy. Such shortcomings, however, are saved, in most part, by the deviant craftsmanship of the music. Her sometimes mournful laments are twinned with choirs of swirling and densely layered backing vocals to offbeat instrumental couplings, with 'I Am Leaving' employing harmonica, acoustic guitar and synths.

With such extensive and impeccable musical arrangement it is considerably intriguing to note 'Rebecca' with its almost PJ Harvey style leanings; backed only by guitar, it sees the young musician at her most stripped back and vulnerable making it the record's standout and most touching track.

It's clear, however, that despite her ability to both musically and lyrically outweigh her counterparts, Groves isn't yet extending herself beyond the bounds of an elementary template just yet. An intricately stunning debut by any standards but it is apparent that this talent is not yet fully formed, but there most definitely is substantial promise for development.

Ashling Cronin
www.myspace.com/musicofblueroses

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