Are You Awake?

Music The Lisa Misovsky single, Lady Stardust is one of the most uplifting tracks I've heard lately. A heady mix of Natalie Imbruglia, Coldplay and Air (which to my easy listening ears is a good thing) it still manages to feel new and fresh and different. But what will hit you and causes me to gasp in appreciation is that it doesn't have a chorus. Or if it does there are three of them. Two verses, something which sounds like a chorus, two more verses then -- hold on, that's different -- I wasn't expecting that. What happened to the bridge? Quiet bit. Anthemic ending -- I think I may be punching the air. It's just a magical track really.

I'm not trying to champion some unknown singer here. She's massively famous in her native Sweden winning their version of The Brits -- so this'll be her crack at the UK market. I don't know if it'll work -- I'm not sure what the airplay's been like not listening to music radio at all, but HMV Liverpool only had two copies and I've a feeling that's what they got in. Not in her favour is writing for the Back Street Boys in the past (but it's a job of work - Simon Callow was in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls for much the same reason I suspect). But the title of the lady's first UK album, Falling Water is inspired by a building from the architect Frank Lloyd Wright which is an excellent thing.

The single's at least worth buying for the b-side, a breathy version of Bacharach and David's Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, which isn't quite the same re-imagining as Nina Gordon's Straight Out Of Compton but reminds me at least of those singers you hear in a bar at midnight who show up with a guitar, a look and a voice and captivate the audience. Frankly would you rather have that or an animated frog?