Mirel Wagner: When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day

It's pretty obvious what sort of music Mirel Wagner listened to as a teenager, and those influences are now seeping into her own material. There's a certain sense of bewitching, otherworldly gloom to the 23-year-old song-writer, who was born in Ethiopia and raised in Finland. PJ Harvey comes to mind on the dark balladry of Goodnight and What Love Looks Like, while Nick Cave hovers over the brooding strum of The Dirt. At the same time, these fingerpicked acoustic folk songs scrounge from the sparse sounds of grizzled bluesmen. Their minimalist framework means the focus is on Wagner's lyrics and voice, both of which occasionally lose the magnetism that they desperately need. Still, for a late-night dose of murder balladry and skewed lullabies, you could do worse. mirelwagner.com

Download: What Love Looks Like, The Dirt