Donna Lewis: "Now In A Minute"

Atlantic, 7567 82762. (45 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1201

One of the best things about the success of a soul singer like Dina Carroll is the fact that she writes her own songs. Not only because this is far from the norm for females in soul music, but because it means the cash she makes helps strengthen her power base in the still male dominated music industry. Likewise, with the brace of new female singer songwriters rolling forth in the wake of the recent and unprecedented popularity of Alanis Morissette in particular.

Sadly, though Donna Lewis does write her own material, and - like Dina - is obviously besotted by the "Philly" sound. The Welsh singer songwriter has buried the lyrics on her debut album in a swathe of relatively insipid musical settings. Best is the Philly remix of I Love You Always Forever, with its jagged, jazzy edges and infectious rhythms which, no doubt, helped send the track to number two in the American charts. Elsewhere, songs like Mother and Nothing Ever Changes, though well intentioned, lyrically really amount to little more than musical ice cream.

Fiona Apple: "Tidal"

Work, 483750 (51 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1311

Now this is something very special; indeed, the kind of disc that arrives on the desk of a reviewer and makes all those hours of listening to bland, dispiriting music more than bearable. In fact with a voice as moody as Brando at his peak, Fiona Apple definitely is sweet enough to eat. Or rather, bittersweet, with this album's opening salvo, Sleep To Dream, rooted in the same kind of rage that informs the best songs by Morissette, but delivered in a beautifully understated manner. Thankfully, there is also nothing of the woman as victim mode of expression in lines like, "This mind, this body, and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways/So don't forget what I told you, don't come around, I got my own hell to raise."

Equally, in Criminal Fiona leaps beyond many of her female peers, by regretfully admitting that she turned a male into a victim. She sings, "I've been careless with a delicate man/And it's a sad sad world/When a girl will break a boy/Just because she can". As quoted here, in cold print, it may sound relatively twee but when sung in a bluesy sense by Fiona Apple, with wonderful neo classical piano lines, supplied by Patrick Warner, and almost Beatle-esque guitar licks, it's a pure, delight. Likewise the muted, floating orchestral figures that dominate this album. But it's the easy rolling, slices of seduction, such as Slow Like Honey and The First Taste that make Tidal a must. Who could resist from the latter, a line like "Adagio breezes fill my skin with sudden red." As sexy as sin.

Patti Rothberg: "Between the 1 and the 9"

Chrysalis (42 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1421

If you like your anger more upfront and the word "victim" in the opening song of an album, then American rocker Patti Rothberg is your woman. And Flicker is the first track on this, her debut album. An ex busker with a professed fondness for "heavies" like Black Sabbath and who name checks Tone Loc, Cinderella and Berlin as bands she likes to listen to, all that's new about Patti is, well, nothing, really. Blues driven guitar lines, predictable percussive beats and lyrics like "I could say that you were a dirty dog but that's an insult to the fleas" hardly haul the senses into a state of alert.

Rebecka Tornqvist: "Good Thing"

EMI, 37461(50 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1531

Don't even think about asking me how you pronounce her name! But, no, Rebecka's not Irish. Her base is Stockholm, where this album was recorded. First noted, she turned up on a single earlier this year, with a glorious cover of the standard Here's That Rainy Day but, obviously, that was just a tease as all these songs are her own. Apart from Shawn Colvin's I Don't Know Why. If you like soft, country influenced rock a la Colvin, this is okay. But, in the end, if music - as with any form of art - doesn't even begin to insinuate its way into your soul, you really would be better off having an ice cream. It also would be, a great deal cheaper than buying this CD.