Paolo Nutini - These Streets

Genre soul Publisher Atlantic Records External Links Official Paolo Nutini Website Official Atlantic Records Website

Paolo Nutini is from Scotland. The name's Italian and the voice is southern United States soul. How that all manages to work out is beyond me, but it does. This is a genuinely talented young singer-songwriter with a voice that is destined to slay hearts around the world. And he's not even 20 years old.

Nutini's debut, These Streets, produced largely by Ken Nelson (Coldplay, Badly Drawn Boy), shouldn't be this self-assured, this evolved, but it is. And despite the Kings of Leon-ish album opener "Jenny Don't Be Hasty" (I declare any song that wishes to use a woman's name in the title is to use Jenny from here on out. See: The Killers' "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" and Nutini's song as to why), Nutini isn't a rocker, but a soul singer. And no, he won't be linking up with Taylor Hicks as a member of the "Soul Patrol" (vomit sound f/x).

What Nutini brings is much richer than what else is out there right now. His voice is very confident, but his songwriting is an equal match. Perhaps striking out on his own as a teenager helped form him that much quicker. Moving from the small town of Paisley in Scotland to the big bad city of London surely stiffened his resolve and matured him greatly.

And, as good as the album is overall, you won't find a better example of why Paolo Nutini is destined for greatness than These Streets' second song, "Last Request." It's a casual bit of soul, and the music is almost beside the point, serving only as ambience to the true showcase of Nutini's devastating voice. These Streets is only the beginning to what cannot possibly be anything other than an extraordinary career.