Album review: Birdy - 'Birdy'

Let's be honest, Birdy's debut album is no different in essence to Joe McElderry's Classic album. The only difference being that Birdy chose a load of obscure indie tracks to cover, rather than the tiresome standards McElderry opted for.

The album is an odd experience. On the one hand, it sounds almost exactly like you might expect - a collection of perfectly performed haunting cover versions by a precociously talented teenager who probably hasn't experienced half of the heartache she's singing about. On the other, it's an overwhelmingly brilliant album which raises goosebumps with the star's fragility and talent for extracting emotional resonance from songs where we previously found none.

Oddly enough, our favourite song covered, Phoenix's '1901', the album opener, is the least powerful track here and it's one we were unfamiliar with that we've fallen for hardest. Birdy's cover of 'I'll Never Forget You' by little-known US pop band Francis and the Lights is a breathtakingly delicate moment which sounds like Kate Bush if she was utterly heartbroken, 40 years younger and not totally bonkers.

Already amazing, her cover of Fleet Foxes 'White Winter Hymnal' replicates the autumnal warmth of the original, while Birdy's version of Naked And Famous hit 'Young Blood' strips away the rock and roll of the original, leaving something altogether more tender. Birdy's self-penned track 'Without A Word' too, shows that there may well be more to this young star than a stirring voice and a great taste in music, with as much lyrical insight at its album peers.

A strange album, as cover versions are generally regarded as lower than a collection of tracks 'feat. Pitbull' and the while Birdy project is so annoyingly credible with its song choices and viral marketing, there's no question that the product at the centre of it all is truly rather spectacular. Save this treat for your next hangover, and spend some time under the duvet with a 15-year-old child prodigy.