For several years now Nina Hynes has been an enigma on the Dublin independent scene, a trendy name to drop but with only an EP and a mini-album to her name. Now at last her first full-length album has arrived - and thankfully it contains more than enough quality material to back up her reputation. Recorded largely in France with ex-Frames guitarist Dave Odlum, Staros is a dazzlingly eclectic record which ranges from bittersweet pop to spacey electronica, all executed with an attractively light touch which makes most of her contemporaries seem clumsy by comparison. It's an album packed with incidental pleasures, from Hynes's neatly oblique lyrics to the ornate electronic flourishes with which she beefs up her slightly sugary compositions. No longer just an enigma then, but a solid homegrown talent who deserves to be cherished.
