Tanita Tikaram: The Sweet Keeper

TANITA TIKARAM IS blessed. She has a voice which, on the evidence so far, is incapable of sounding unattractive; strong, low and husky, hinting at dark reserves of melancholy no matter how upbeat a song may be, it carries a moody weight into every line (more often than not setting aside any sceptical enquiries of a "Yes, but what's she on about?" nature). Twenty-odd tracks into her recording career, though, it seems that (like her hero Leonard Cohen) she may find what she is seeking by working within very narrow limits of music and overt emotion.