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ROCKFERRY

Duffy

Amiee Duffy is a 23-year-old white girl from the United Kingdom with an aching, powerhouse voice; a knack for writing sharp confessionals about broken relationships; an apparent affinity for vintage Motown and girl-group pop; and an old-fashioned look, right down -- or up -- to her big bouffant.

Kind of like Amy Winehouse, sans the messy personal life.

The Welsh singer, whose nom de art is simply Duffy, won't immediately be able to shake the Winehouse comparisons, as she's arriving a little bit late to this particular retro party. It's a shame, as Duffy is an intriguing young talent with a winning debut album and a hugely promising future.

Measured against Winehouse's exceptional "Black to Black," though, "Rockferry" falls somewhat short insofar as it lacks the pathology, humor and jaw-dropping production that helped make Winehouse's U.S. debut such a compelling and gripping piece of art.

The album reaches back to the 1960s for its sonic formula, matching Duffy's big, torchy voice -- which splits the difference between Shirley Bassey and Dusty Springfield -- with a shimmering, string-laden wall-of-sound production style. At the heart of the songs are Duffy's bereft, bruised lyrics about how she's been done wrong ("Stepping Stone"), how she won't let it happen again ("Warwick Avenue"), how she she's been "Hanging On Too Long" and how some poor sap has taken too long to come around ("Delayed Devotion").

While Duffy specializes in sad songs ("I'll build my house, baby, with sorrow," she notes in the title track), her album's best entry is a frisky, organ-fueled romp, "Mercy," in which she sings of being under somebody's spell. So much verve; so irresistible. More songs like this, and so much for the Winehouse comparisons, too.

-- J. Freedom du Lac

DOWNLOAD THESE: "Mercy," "Stepping Stone"

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