Jaguar Wright: Divorcing Neo 2 Marry Soul

(Herald rating: * * * *)

Too often contemporary soul singers miss the mark. They're either bland carbon copies of their icons, their R&B techniques sound forced or they lack songwriting spark. Philadelphia's Jaguar Wright suffers none of these. She's a smart, sassy, strong singer who knows there's no point having the same soul as anyone else. "Out with the new, in with the old," she sings on opening track Dear John but it's obvious by the slick beats she's yet to sign the divorce papers.

You don't mess with this diva. She can sing a delicate alto if she wants to but when she's in a stroppy mood she delivers an impassioned, spine-tingling vibrato. Play the Field could be the new-age answer to R.E.S.P.E.C.T.; One More Drink and she might go home with you - as long as it's Crystale and you buy one for all her friends, too.

Wright was once Jay-Z's back-up singer, and she used to go to jam sessions run by Philly hip-hop crew the Roots - and it shows. Her deep, sexy grooves are more Meshell N'degeocello than Angie Stone, and she's poppy enough to give Janet Jackson a run for her money. Flower, a lush, string-soaked ballad about watching her baby growing up could have all gone soppily wrong but Wright injects just the right amount of sentimentality without coming across like Brandy on a good day.

A bold, stylish release from a singer who isn't just a wildcat by name.

Label: Artemis