The Fallen Angel's Unravelling Descent

Avital Raz is a bravely original singer-songwriter with an intriguing history. Born in Jerusalem where she sang classical music as a child, she later moved to India to study improvisational dhrupad singing. Now she lives in Sheffield, where she teaches music, while working with the excellent Rafiki Jazz and performing her own material. She proudly states she has been ‘making people uncomfortable since 1996,’ and it's her lyrics that make her songs so distinctive. They should have been included on the album sleeve. The best songs include the bitter ‘Male Order Bride’, which she released as a single on International Women's Day; its cover photo depicted her working as a cleaner with a black eye. Then there's ‘TV’, a song about boredom and hating to be alone, and the startling ‘My Lover is Cold’ (‘my lover is hanging in his shed’).

Musically, she is not always original, but there are echoes of blues and Americana in her easy-going folky style, along with occasional reminders of her roots in the Middle East and the improvisation she learned in India.