MUSIC REVIEW: City Lights by Phoebe Ophelia, self-released, out now
Kirton singer-songwriter Phoebe Ophelia gave an audience at the weekend's Holbeach Music and Beer Music Festival a taste of her debut CD, "City Lights".
Six songs with potential to make inroads in the teenage market, Phoebe has gone with tried and tested flavours, rather than "reinventing the wheel", to make her mark.
Beautiful Mess, released as a debut single last summer, uses the kind of electro-pop sound that worked for Kim Wilde, Sam Fox and Sam Brown.
In fact, the 1988 hit "Stop", sung by Brown may have influenced Phoebe's ballad "Hold On", before a cautionary tale about homelessness in San Francisco forms the basis of the EP's title track.
The maturity of Phoebe's lyrics is turned up a notch for "Unfamiliar Face", perhaps the EP's best song with its common theme for pop songs of a promising romance that suddenly turns sour.
Dance floors in Lincolnshire could soon shake to the rhythms of "Vibe With me" which takes Pheobe into the world of modern soul before the EP's final song, "Girls Like You" is the Kirton singer's nod to Motown.
Speaking about her choice of songs for the EP, Phoebe said: "Beautiful Mess was my debut single which was featured on BBC Radio One last year.
"The song is about a relationship that is by no means perfect but the couple are happy in their 'beautiful mess' of a life.
"Hold On is love song about a relationship that has turned toxic but the couple just want to stay together so that they aren't alone.
"They are just begging each other to just stay a little longer to see if they can fix their problems and go back to when times were good.
"They are just begging each other to just stay a little longer to see if they can fix their problems and go back to when times were good.
"City Lights is one of my favourite songs as it tells the story of when I went to San Francisco, USA, where I met a homeless man who asked me for $5.
"But he was so lovely and you could just tell that he had somehow lost his way in life, with a desire to just try and get back on his feet.
"So I gave him $10 and he was so grateful that he gave me a hug and then even kissed my dad.
"Unfamiliar Face is a story about the lost relationship between a father and a daughter.
"However, after releasing the song, I felt like it is was so much more than that - a song that's relatable to anyone who has suffered heartbreak or the loss of a relationship, whether it be boyfriend, girlfriend, mother or father.
"This song is so special to me on a personal level but what I love about it is that it can become special to anyone who hears it.
"If the lyrics match how they feel then they can express themselves through Unfamiliar Face too.
"Vibe With Me is a song about how love can be tricky but if you work together it can be beautiful.
"Finally, Girls Like You is a song with a lot of 'sass' about disagreeing with the way a girl can be acting, telling her to cut it out because no one has time for drama or trouble."
Review by Winston Brown