You know how every now and again you come across an artist who you just think “yes, you’re amazing…. it’s nothing that’s particularly new or innovative, but you’re amazing nonetheless”? Well, prepare for Jose Vanders to do exactly that. At only 17 she has the voice of an angel, and is probably one of the best unsigned MySpace singer-songwriters of the past year.

Insightful, simple lyrics that everyone can relate to, she’s able to tell stories many who are 10 years older than her still struggle to do succinctly in songs:

There’s a woman with a baby trying to make it stop crying so she’s bribing with a lemon lollipop.
There’s a girl with a boyfriend she’s in way too far ’cause I saw him looking at another woman’s heart.
I saw him looking at another woman’s heart.

And people say that I’m being lazy;
I’ve got the dreams but don’t know where to go.
You think if I could choose to live here at the station, I would?

She’s a genius piano player, and isn’t bad to watch on youtube either. So make sure you go check her out - she’s probably not likely to have ahit album anytime soon, as music is just a hobby for her, but she could be one to watch in a couple of years time. Definately one to watch.

Listening to the lyrics just makes you lay back and ponder the greatness of the stories she’s constructing - they’re really quite amazing, and have a brilliant viewpoint that I wish I could have out on life.

Just amazing.

This post is also available on Londonist. Pictures and video after the jump.

“One broken collar bone, one sprained ankle and a severe case of man-flu – that’s the toll of a three week UK tour” joked Tom McRae as he chatted with the crowd at last night’s tour finale at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire. Taking the audience on a journey through his past three albums and his most recent, King of Cards, he manages to play all the old favourites and a few new ones.

Opening up was the marvellous Steve Reynolds, who had a broken collar bone, done whilst playing football – Tom later commented “I can still hear that crack in my head now… it was horrible!” Clearly in agony, he even so managed to romp through some crowd pleasers and some new material, all of which was absolutely amazing. He managed to restrain himself from berating an incredibly noisy audience, even though he clearly wanted to.

A few minutes later and the guy we’d all been waiting for, Tom McRae comes on stage, explaining that he has man flu, which is apparently a million times worse than a broken collar bone (said jokingly). To warm his voice up, we got three (presumably) untitled new songs before he broke into the better known ones.

In between songs his banter with the audience was amusing as ever, with Tom discussing the Sun’s review of his new album (“They accused me of dumbing down with a “pop” sound that’s “happier” than before… you know things are bad when the Sun says you’re dumbing down. So here’s a happy one from my new album!” before launching into “Got a Suitcase, Got Regrets, perhaps one of the darker songs on the new album ironically.)

Old favourites “My Vampire Heart”, “Walk to Hawaii” and “Dose Me Up” all got airings, greated like old friends. One of the biggest cheers of the night was reserved for when Tom promised to bring the Hotel Café tour back to the UK early next year – one of my highlights of last year musically, and a great idea.

However, the best was yet to come. Coming back for his encore, Tom unplugged his guitar, and Ollie the keyboardist grabbed an accordion for a sensational rendition of “Bloodless”, with Tom singing without any amplification, and audience sing alongs galore. It was short and to the point, but decidedly poignant with everyone singing and the full meaning of the song just hitting everyone full-on.

When he finished this, there was only one way to go, with the song everyone had been shouting from the start – “Boy With The Bubblegum”. Simple, yet oh so effective, it brought the whole evening to a close in perfect style.

Tom McRae – one of our nation’s best kept secrets?

After the jump, catch larger pictures and also a video of Bloodless live.

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