Its been some time since I bought some music. I've been thinking about this recently. I had the slightly scary thought that this may have been something to do with not having as much time for music as I used to. Well, all things are possible as I appear to have less time for this blog. Which is a bit of a shame (for me at the least).

So, the music buying hiatus has come to an end. Kind of. I got this album for free. And before the PRS comes running after me, I was lucky enough to be given it by Clare herself after having listened to some of her music on myspace.

Clare lists her influences as Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow, Jeff Buckley, Counting Crows and Turin Brakes. I'll be honest here (and I hope she never reads this) but this didn't exactly fill me with a great deal of enthusiasm as I waited for her first song to start playing. I actually have no idea who Jewel is at all, but I know I'm not such a big fan of the others.

Don't get me wrong. I like a singer songwriter as much as the next music fan. But Sheryl Crow isn't on my playlist. Never will be. No sirree.

Until now that is. For if that's the music that influences this rather unassuming but truly endearing collection of songs then I'll give it another go. Promise. (Even if she was engaged to Lance Armstrong, but we'll save that for another time).

"There are many shades of me", she sings in the opening track. It would be easy to label this album as just another story of love, loss and regret. But to do so would be to do the music and the song writing a great disservice. Clare's brilliance is to let us into her life with such a brutal honesty but tell us her story with a delightful delicacy in her musicianship and songwriting.

This is an album of great simplicity. Songs and emotions stripped to the bone. But that's not to say the music isn't challenging. From the vocal adventure of "All yours now" to the haunting strings in "Mum's Song", she displays a gift for composition that merits a wider audience.

But at the core is her talent as both a guitarist and a singer. Her voice at times brings a quite unexpected soulful flavour to her songs which adds an unusual texture to her guitar playing. And the light touch production of this album let them both speak for themselves. For me the stand out song, "Never Been" exemplifies everything that she does well. A song that despite repeated listening remains for me an enigma; neither mournful or hopeful. It it is quite simply, in her own words, another shade of her.

There are indeed many shades to Clare, "some you haven't seen yet", she continues in the opening song. I do get the impression that there is much more that we have yet to hear. Each song gives us a chance to see just a little bit more. And just for good measure she rounds it all off with "Standing before you", a song of such powerful raw emotion and vulnerability it just makes you play the whole album again.

So, I was lucky enough to tell her how much I liked her music tonight. She seemed a bit puzzled and she said "but you haven't seen me play yet". True. And on the strength of this album I can't wait.

http://www.myspace.com/clareportman