PAOLO NUTINI

Last Night In The Bittersweet (Atlantic)

What to make of Paolo Nutini? After a Radio 2-friendly introduction to the charts with Last Request and others from debut album These Streets, the Scottish songster has gone on to make increasingly individual albums certified variously from platinum to quadruple platinum.

In essence, Nutini is a soul-folk singer of the same individual vein as Van Morrison – and similarly, there’s no denying the quality of his vocal work. Both share an ability to switch genres with ease and are led exclusively by a muse which has directed Nutini towards, Last Night In The Bittersweet, a sprawling 16-track collection of mostly long-form album tracks.

The music is bloody good, dense and full of the deep feeling that Nutini obviously needs to make that rather special voice of his soar. After an eight-year unofficial hiatus since his last album, Last Night In The Bittersweet will remind everyone just how good an artist can be when they own their own uniqueness.

words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES