Siobhan Donaghy - Revolution in Me (Collector's Edition) (2021)

Siobhan Donaghy's decision to quit the Sugababes just before they became the coolest of household names may have been spectacularly ill timed, but Revolution in Me suggests that her departure was inevitable. While her former band mates, along with Siobhan's replacement Heidi, have gone on to make chart-eating pop sexy again, Donaghy's debut album is an altogether more complex, sophisticated and eccentric vision. As a clue to where she's coming from, it's worth remembering that she along with All Saints/Massive Attack producer Cameron McVey wrote the first Sugababes single: the effortlessly sultry "Overload" came with the most unlikely of pop add-ons, a surf guitar solo.

With McVey again as her writing partner, Donaghy combines in Revolution in Me the left-of-centre genius of "Overload" with the emotional outpourings of an older, wiser and clearly bruised artist. "Overrated" and "Twist of Fate" are the bitter and twisted singles, all churning guitars and jaded cynicism. "Nothing but Song" is a deceptively sweet go-to-hell anthem, "Little Bits" simmers with anger and "Man Without Friends" rolls along lost and dejected until the spirit-rousing chorus erupts at the end. And while none of her songs are catchy in the traditional sense, the purring "As You Like It" and "XY" (with its cartoon glockenspiel) are mercilessly addictive. Dan Gennoe