VirtueClose Harbour****

You've heard it all before: girl with guitar, wearing her heart on her sleeve and playing weak-willed indie-folk. Emma Lee Moss certainly didn't help to dissipate such an image with her ordinary debut back in 2009, but

Virtue

is a braver and better constructed effort. The Londoner still uses acoustic love paeans as stabilisers, but when they come off (as heard on the swirling electric gloom of

Creation

and the glassy electronic pulse of

Sylvia

), Moss is revealed as a clever songwriter, her gentle coo secreting the occasional smart lyrical couplet. It's true that

Virtue

may sound like a melting pot of other influential female musicians, from Joni Mitchell to Bat for Lashes; even Eddi Reader and Laura Marling get a look in. Nevertheless, it's a charming endeavour and undoubtedly a progression.

See emmythegreat.com

Download tracks: Iris, Sylvia