"These streets are paved with gold", croons 19-year old Scots-Italian heartthrob Paolo Nutini, "because I'm one of those artists who slots neatly into a musical niche created solely for lovestruck teenage girls and middle-aged women". Ahem. Okay, maybe he doesn't sing those exact words, (it's too cumbersome, for starters) but it only takes one listen of These Streets, the Paisley youngster's debut, to decipher exactly the kind of market he's going for. There's no doubt that Nutini has an incredibly rich and textured voice that belies his years, or that his appeal is broad, or that the aforementioned target market will undoubtedly fall for his swarthy features and incandescent croon. Somehow, though, it all seems such a waste. While Paolo Nutini could be making serious inroads into the husky-voiced-troubadour furrow that the likes of Ray Lamontagne is ploughing, he's making Tesco-stocking Music to Do The Dishes To. You'll probably have heard single radio-friendly smoocher 'Last Request' by now, the sort of track that daytime DJs have wet dreams about; if you haven't, brace yourself, because it's bound to be re-released and grow like the fungal infection that James Blunt's Your Beautiful did. These Streets is essentially a collection of uptempo, David Gray-lite pop-rock tracks (Jenny Don't Be Hasty, Rewind) and stark piano or acoustic guitar ballads (White Lies, Autumn) wrapped around unconvincing, puerile and often mawkish lyrics. There's a whole song dedicated to a pair of new shoes (surprisingly, New Shoes), and Loving You is as cliched as its title anticipates. Nutini's voice - a melancholy, soulful rasp - is without question his forte, but one hopes that by the time he records his next album he'll have polished his songwriting and broadened his lyrical depth somewhat. Until then, fans of KT Tunstall, David Gray and James Blunt rejoice; your new saviour is here.
