Awna Teixeira

For tales of good old Americana you do not get much better than the back story of Awna Teixeira. Her youth is filled with tales of packing suitcases with comics and leaving home to circle the streets until night time. Later she would pursue a life of crime, ending up as a getaway driver. Luckily for her she escaped the world of justice to find her way into music – having been transfixed from the age of six with her organ and trumpet, playing songs that she learned off the radio.

After a period with the west coast street singers The Derby, then alt-country band The Red Eyed Rounders, country-folk band Barley Wik, she finally found prominence as part of the international roots band Po' Girl, after quickly forming a friendship with the band’s Allison Russell. In 2011, Teixeira decided to take a break from touring with Po' Girl to record and release her long-awaited debut solo album. Where The Darkness Goes was recorded at Minbal studios in Chicago in the Spring of this year.

Teixeira has such a distinctive voice that comparisons are hard but she is also a hugely talented musician, playing the accordion, guitar, banjo, harmonica and ukulele. Most beguiling on the likes of the Portuguese flavoured shuffle of Minha Querida and the piano dominated Stargazer (where her vocals have strange echoes of Katie Melua), this is roots music with large dosses of country and folk.

Much of the album though is probably too steeped in American folk for some British ears, with the title track, Faden and The Little Review a touch twee. There is also elements of Dolly Parton (with a French twist) on the European flavoured Little Piggy, while Prince Of The Park, with a delicious horn solo, is probably the most catchy and instant thing here. Not for newcomers to Americana but for the initiated an interesting and at times intoxicating experience.