It’s not hard to do 100mph in a brand new rented Buick on an empty interstate on a Saturday afternoon. Massachusetts glows in the russet and golden foliage drop, with that late autumn light that seems to intensify everything. L7 blaring on the local college radio station just serves to incite the foot to press the accelerator, and besides, nobody in their right mind drives at the state speed limit (55 mph) – made to be broken. Next up through the speakers comes ‘Partisan’, from Katell Keineg, who is due to play one of the local campuses tonight, and is at this very moment in the midst of a soundcheck. Hence the hurry.

Musically, it’s been quite an Indian summer here, with the wind-down of a choppy Lollapolooza tour, the crass insanity of “Woodstock II”, neo-punk Greenday disrupting it, the sustained mega-hit of some anonymous Spanish monks, music via Internet, Beck, Hole, hip movie soundtracks – oh yes, and don’t forget the O.J. Simpsons of the music awards, Michael and Lisa Marie. It seems that music in post-Cobain America is suffering from a multiple personality disorder that even MTV can’t control.

Into this vortex somewhere in early autumn steps Katell Keineg brandishing a sparkling debut album on Elektra, O Seasons, O Castles, grabbing plenty of attention since its release two months ago. Lauded in everything from fanzines to college mags to Rolling Stone, Spin and even that (ahem) harbinger of contemporary Musical taste, Time, Americans are getting a blast of Katell in print that’s been wisely followed up by a US tour that has covered an impressive amount of ground, tracing a route that’s taken in Atlanta, Toronto, LA, New York, the mid-West and Chicago.