Suzanne Vega

Suzanne Vega's debut cuts sharply through New York's air from a private viewpoint. Even to twenty-first-century ears, it shows no age at all: an extraordinarily durable work. Released in 1985, its band sound centred on simple accompanying guitar brings a taut atmosphere to every song. That cold-seeming skin conveys eloquently how sensitive her expression is.

It is present from the opening ‘Cracking.’ Words spun by a method close to poetry reading leave a powerful impression on the listener. ‘Marlene on the Wall,’ issued as a single, and ‘Small Blue Thing’ unfold with a descriptive power that builds by stepping through their rhymes. Her delicate, sharp sensibility is wonderfully expressed. The following album Solitude Standing (1987), containing ‘Luka’ and ‘Tom's Diner,’ broke through and raised her profile dramatically. But its introspective social criticism had already begun to emerge here. A rich, substantial record permeated in every corner by a finely honed sensibility.