Talk To Strangers is the debut album from Suffolk-born singer-songwriter Fiona Bevan. Bevan describes her debut album as “pop in disguise”, and the dozen, songs have hooks, harmonies and melodies that linger from first listen, but are defiantly timeless and purposely hard to pin down. Bevan, who has already tasted success as a chart-topping songwriter for One Direction, wrote all 12 songs on Talk to Strangers. Bevan plays guitar, violin, double bass, accordion, and harp...

For a debut album they don't come much better than this. Fiona Bevan, who has previously written for One Direction, has a confidence that usually comes with a second or third album. What was also impressive was the diversity of the tracks included here. It straddles the line between pop and indie with a little bit of soul thrown into the mix. In addition these 12 tracks (45 min, 17 sec) are incredibly well produced.

'Rebel Without a Cause' gives the album an acoustic opening that showcases Bevan's beautiful voice and guitar playing; 'US and the Darkness' (possibly my favourite track) is a beautiful song, again stripped back to its bare bones; 'Dial D for Denial' has a foot firmly planted in the indie camp and is a catchy track; whilst 'Pirates and Diamonds' leans heavily towards pop.

This is an impressive album with enough quality tracks to ensure this could become your soundtrack to the summer of 2014.

8

Nick Smithson