This four-track CD of bittersweet folk-pop is a near-perfect introduction to Malta’s latest and greatest musical hope. It’s not traditional Maltese music, but a contemporary anglophone sound driven by classy melodies, aching human emotion and considerable musicianship. Melissa Portelli exorcises her personal demons by writing and singing from the heart, while talented multi-instrumentalist Keith Anthony swirls music around her in flurries of melodic highs and lows. His guitar fronts his one-man orchestra, and although it’s sensitively played and neatly harmonised, it’s only the clean production that keeps it in check. Repeated listening brings its own reward, and once it hooks itself into your ear you’ll find it pleasantly and harmlessly addictive.

Graham Hazelwood

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