Cooly G: Playin' Me – review

On her Facebook page, Cooly D describes herself as "a semi-pro female footballer and UK house producer" and notes that her hometown is "Mars". You find the same mix of the nonchalant and extra-terrestrial all over her debut album. It frequently resembles a woman simultaneously exploring and exploding the history of British bass music. You hear fragments of lover's rock, dubstep, Soul II Soul, drum'n'bass, UK funky and Massive Attack's stoned melancholy: the end result sounds unearthly, alternately scattered and luscious, and ultimately like no one else. Her vocals – unreconstructed south-London accent, beautifully understated style, lyrics that trace the arc of a relationship going wrong – bring it back down to earth. Its risk-taking climaxes with a cover of (wait for it) Coldplay's Trouble that strips the song of both its wearily familiar hookline and its thick coating of syrup, and locates something heartbreaking at its centre. If the idea of that leaves you agape, rest assured it's not the only moment on Playin' Me to have that effect.