I love getting new music on on Atlantic Records. For me that has immediate connection to classy stuff like Led Zeppelin or Aretha Franklin - and in any case you hope they're not going to put out any old toss. I had not even heard of Laura Izibor, much less heard her stuff so it's so nice to approach a review and have no preconceptions.

4 beats of unadorned high hat and we're right in to funked modern soul - this powers along with piano, strings and all those regular elements of soul music, even the cheesy organ is its own delight but the stand-out on the track really is that this has the joy and uplift of Laura Izibor's voice. Think maybe of classic era Lauren Hill, turn off the introspection, turn up the confidence with a more faced up, slightly brash vocal and you're about there. But it's no pastiche of any of those things - despite having all the old elements, this is bang up to the minute. The arrangement and production suits it and Laura Izibor has an affecting difference to her voice - I won't call it imperfection because sometimes imperfection is perfect - it's enough to endear.

This isn't going to do anything in the radio charts, a straight up piece of soul just ain't, but it should, it really should. The surprising thing after my bit of blind listening is to hit Wikipedia and find out that this girl ain't from New York but is actually a 22 year old from Dublin who has been signed to a record company since she was 15. Ah, but the album was recorded in Dublin, New York, Atlanta and Philly, so it all starts to make sense.

The only sad thing is that I don't know Laura Izibor already. I had a horrible suspicion that she would stay in the ranks of "great but not great enough" but it turns out the May 2009 album Let the Truth Be Told (which this is taken from) got to number 2 in Eire and 27 in the US Billboards. Add to that winning the Emerging Artist in the Irish Meteor Prize in 2006 and a MOBO nomination and I guess Laura Izibor is big enough after all, just not in the UK where the album struggled at 100. Pity.

In summary, not my first love but one to leave playing when the iPod throws it round on shuffle.