Lotte Mullan - Plain Jane

Twenty-five-year-old London songwriter Lotte Mullan discovered her father's trove of Beatles albums when her parents split up. She's moved through electronica, Sneaker Pimps, Paul Simon's Graceland, drum and bass, Portishead and Beth Orton at various points in her life but one thing is certain: even from those earliest memories, she says, "I’ve been making sense of life through music ever since." She's also worked as a music label intern, a booking agent, publishing radio plugger -- all experiences that helped her understand the workings of the business, build her own label and self-release her own promising debut album, Plain Jane. Self-released last year, Plain Jane is now ready for an expanded U.K. release September 27 with a new remix and two new songs added.

Key track "Can't Find the Words" (video after the jump) typifies the Plain Jane aesthetic, an alluring folk/pop melody embroidered with gently chiming guitar lines and Mullan's wistful lyrics sung with a voice that exudes a smoky radiance. Small, carefully turned production touches and a disarming personal presence make songs like the slow waltzing "Valentine Song" and shimmering mood piece "Would You Be So Kind" -- with the follow up line "...to break my heart..." -- resplendent examples of unpretentious modern folk/pop. Plain Jane is very much like a 'First Record'," says Mullan. "I wanted there to be a certain naivety to it." Says Mojo - “veers engagingly between Laura Marling vulnerability and the tender end of pop...a strong debut”.

Lotte Mullan - "Can't Find the Words" (from the album Plain Jane)

Lotte Mullan - "Would You Be So Kind" (from the album Plain Jane)