's debut release is a concept album. Side one, subtitled "I Came to the City," generally exhibits songs about urban subjects that are often dour or repressed in some way. "Out of the City and Down to the Seaside," by contrast, is a celebration of nature and countryside, mostly containing selections of a charming, positive, or more outgoing nature. What sets this release apart from those of other confession-style singer/songwriters of the time is the craft, subtlety, and evocative power of 's lyrics and harmonic style. Numbers such as and effectively utilize sophisticated chord progressions rarely found in this genre. Verses are substantive and highly charged, exhibiting careful workmanship. has graceful and vivid lyrics about the joys of freedom set to a haunting, wide-ranging vocal line. Conversely, explores the downside of a no-strings-attached approach to life, the fear of committing to a relationship (ironically wedding these words to a hopeful melody and pulsating guitar texture). utilizes poignant, twisting music set to desolately lonely lyrics about a jilted woman; the recurrent use of red and green imagery in the verses is especially clever. Character studies such as are painfully bleak in contrast to the lithe domestic scene of and the winsomely reserved love song Unusual in her oeuvre are the overlapping dialogue prose manner of and the jaunty stylings of sings in a light, gossamer, at times diffident manner; vocal harmony is sparingly employed here. 's production is simple and effective. This excellent debut is well worth hearing. ~ David Cleary