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MAY 13, 2008

Amy Winehouse
without the
beehive or
the baggage

 
Made of Bricks Introducing Joss Stone Dusty in Memphis
always clickable

 

CD: Rockferry

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Sometimes a breakthrough musician makes it especially easy for listeners to remember her. Duffy, the 23-year-old Welsh pop singer, already has a stage name that evokes her sonic inspiration, the late British soul queen Dusty Springfield. But it’s not just their names that sound similar: When Duffy sings, you’d swear she was directly channeling the husky tones of the “Look of Love” and “Son of a Preacher Man” siren.

On her debut album, Rockferry, Duffy’s aspirations to Dustyesque greatness are furthered by ambitious orchestrations modeled after Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound production style. But no amount of instrumentation could crowd out the sound of Duffy’s remarkable voice, as intimate and authentic as the tears she cries in her video for “Warwick Avenue.” Though there may be a glut of great new songstresses, if Duffy can just behave herself in public, the soul-queen crown is hers to lose.

HEAR samples from Rockferry on Duffy’s MySpace page

WATCH the video for “Mercy”

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