Whoa, Nelly

Furtado combines hip-hop rhythms with Latin influenced horns and percussion and tops the whole thing off with a feisty-gal vocal that's reminiscent of the sassy PR character that the actress Rosie Peres portrays in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing. There's also a trace of folk-rock here - think Ricky Lee Jones or even Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians - and if your thinking 'that lot sounds like a recipe for chocolate covered hamburger', you'd be right. Yet inexplicably, it works.

The opener 'Hey Man' is an orchestral guitar pop number that sounds like the Divine Comedy fronted by a streetwise 42nd St hooker - "I look in the mirror and ask my self, Am I vital today? Hey, Man, I let my conscience get in the way" though 'On The Radio' is an almost two-step strip-down, (imagine Destiny's Child produced by Beck) while 'Little Bird' is a funkier, clunkier Latin workout.

'Legend' is a swingier loungey offering that made me realise how much I need a holiday, and the single 'I'm Like A Bird' really is a sublime little number where she sounds as if she's being forced to sing at gunpoint, sulky, sultry and absolutely sexy.

Other standout tracks include the marvellously titled 'Trynna Finda Way' which faintly echoes Grace Jones - "So I'm dancing to a new beat and it came to me in bed" - and the more minimal 'My Love Goes Deeper Every Day'.

Nelly Furtado has written (and co-produced) a stunning, and different debut. She's going to be huge. Viva Furtado!