Ella Montclare - I Surrender

While the seemingly endless horde of eccentric and energetic young female performers (Flo, Marina, Little Boots, Ellie Goulding…) rush the charts, Ella Montclare seems intent to remain in the shadows, at least the figurative shadows of a fictional smoky jazz club where Tricky guards the door and Dr Dre tinkles the keys. For Montclare's second single is a subdued, brooding affair, with a resolutely old-fashioned and breathy vocal sighing over a plinky-plonky G-funk sample and a rather straightforward trip-hop beat. Although it does a good job of invoking '90s nostalgia (particularly for Portishead), there's insufficent here to arrest or excite.