Singer songwriter. No two words are more guaranteed to strike chill into a poor boy's heart other than "I'm pregnant" or -worse still - "last orders".
Leona Naess is one such self-proclaimed specimen and if that weren't enough she also has to wade through the fetid stink of such ill-judged promotional prose as 'beautifully off-kilter tune-writing' and 'melancholic despair' counterpointing the 'simple joys of living'. Bloody hell! How much of a kicking do these people want Leona Naess to get?
Well 'Comatised' really isn't as loathsome as MCA might have us believe. More Sinead than Morissette or Crow particularly on the raw and gutsy 'Charm Attack', there's a natural unevenness to Naess' voice that roughs up the sometimes unremarkable songs on this her debut album.
Some of the rhymes are a little too self-consciously obvious, too faux-naif and inane to carry off the lightweight tunes. When it clicks though, as on the like of 'Paper Thin', comparisons to the Cowboy Junkies are not without some substance.
Whether there's any need for yet another new Joni Mitchell is up for question but she certainly meets the current prerequisite of looking like she wouldn't disgrace the fashion pages of Vogue.
God help poor Janice Joplin if she were trying to earn her beer money now. Seems talent ain't really enough anymore.
