The Misuse of Chemistry is Alana Stewart’s newest EP, although it is difficult to find out if it is her debut EP, as searching for Alana merely brings up references to the actress of the same name; who was once married to George Hamilton and Rod Stewart. However, for a UK audience this is likely to be their first taste of Alana’s music and on this showing there is another bright star out there worth seeking.

Alana Stewart has been compared to Regina Spektor and it isn’t hard to hear that comparison, but there are also elements of Bjork, Beth Gibbons and even a hint of Billie Holiday in the soulful way in which Alana expresses her music.

There are five tracks to The Misuse of Chemistry and that’s more than enough to really delight in Alana’s vocal command. Momma Says opens with a nice piano phrase that is repeated throughout the piece and for the purists out there, Alana does play piano as well. Alana vocal’s are simply expressed, have a light but passionate intonation and in her own words Momma Says is about those questions many 17 year old girls can relate to, in questioning where they should go in their life, what should they do and key to all of this, what role does their mother play in all of this, as the parental shackles are replaced with the exploration of the early stages of adulthood.

When the Wind Blows is stripped back even more by utilising the soft playing of a guitar and those softly expressed vocals, with the odd soft horn, lightly tapped drum and the hand claps that lead into some beautiful up and down scaled “ahhhhs”. However, it is Perfervid that is the outstanding track on this EP, with huge slabs of emotive content, which is hardly surprising considering the dictionary definition of perfervid. In fact taking various dictionary definitions to describe Perfervid as ardent, impassioned and extremely passionate, would put you very close to the feeling you get listening to Alana’s vocals on this track.

Heaven is the final track of the EP with a real breathily vocalness, the odd rising and falling of intention and the pick of electronic notes underneath. You would swear blind that you could give this to Geoff Barrow and be listening to a cracking Portishead tune, both tonely, lyrically and expressively Alana creates a wonderful evocative feeling.

The only track not covered above is the Boy Next Door and that’s because it contains the line "The boy next door wants more", alright so it is taken out of context, but just on these five tracks The Misuse of Chemistry is one of the outstanding solo female vocal albums of 2011 and there will be plenty of people out there wanting more.

Reviewed by Jimbo Walsh.

The Misuse of Chemistry is available now to buy from Alana’s Bandcamp page.