This week's roots CDs reviewed

KATE PURCELL
Independent Soul Dream Records ***

Three albums in, and Clare singer- songwriter Kate Purcell has cast her net wide – only to bag a mixed catch. She tackles twee country with a brittle reading of I Fall to Pieces(dueting on vocals with Brendan Begley, whose rich voice falters in this alien terrain) and dolefully covers Lili Marlene, bleeding it dry of its inherent mystique and sensuality with pedestrian phrasing and arrangements that are the aural equivalent of casting a 100-watt bulb on this nocturnal classic. Purcell redeems Independent Soulwith a quintet of original songs that suit her clear voice well, but further misjudged covers of U2's Bad and Ewan MacColl's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Facedilute what could have been a much more idiosyncratic studio outing. www.katepurcell.com SIOBHÁN LONG

Download tracks: The Question, Chariot

JBM
Not Even in July JBM Records ****

JBM is Jesse Brian Marchant, an actor turned singer-songwriter. From Montreal, Marchant travelled to Los Angeles, where he was inspired to write the suite of intense songs that makes up this impressive debut album. He recorded the album with producer Henry Hirsch in his New York studio, a converted church. The sound is brooding, earnest and heartfelt, and the songs equally so. However, that would hardly make Marchant worth a turn of your head; what does is the quality of the songs and the playing. July on the Sound, written for a dying friend, is measured and elegant in its grief. Friends for Fireworksshows how well JBM has integrated his music into a band setting. There are lots of influences, from James Taylor ( Cleo's Song) to Neil Young ( Going Back Home) to fellow Canadians such the Great Lake Swimmers, but JBM is his own man – albeit not one likely to leave you laughing into the night. www.jbm-music.com JOE BREEN

Download tracks: July on the Sound, Going Back Home