Back in 2007, Liverpudlian Liz Green released the arresting ‘Bad Medicine’ single, revealing to the world her folky, blues-tinged guitar playing and remarkable beyond-its-years voice, and then… nothing. Four years later and debut album O, Devotion! finally arrives – but does it match up to the promise we saw back then?

Part folk ingénue and part wronged woman, Green’s words and vocal have been likened to both Billie Holliday and Nina Simone. High praise – and yet Green is returning folk and blues to its beginnings in a peculiarly Northern way. Her songs are abrupt and to the point, with a lack of the winsome and wandering, helped by the sparse analogue production of Liam Watson (he of Toerag Studios fame). Dark humour and pain combine with Green’s timeless voice to take us back to the time of Harry Smith, stopping off in 1920s Berlin for a spot of cabaret along the way.

An honest approach, tinged with comedy, means O, Devotion! never feels like pastiche. The story in ‘Gallows’ might literally come from another era (“Come back to the wagon/This horse and this cart/They’ll take you to the gallows at nine o’clock sharp”) but is personalised by the parallels to a broken relationship (“I always knew you’d bring me down). It’s the starkest moment on the record: Green’s voice and plucked guitar strings standing alone thanks to Watson’s immaculate production. While other tracks add brass and woodwind, it’s the stripped back moments that impress most.

Opener ‘Hey Joe’ has Green alternately singing and yelping another tale of woe; ‘Midnight Blues’ is a jazzy jaunt that’s powered by some wobbly double bass. ‘Displacement Song’ is similar in tone, but transcends thanks to its subject: refugee life, inspired by the writings of Primo Levi (“I heard a rumour that’s spreading through town/They were coming in numbers to tear this place down to the ground”). Musically, it’s not my favourite moment on the record but the words transport Green’s chosen genre away from the usual tropes and leitmotifs.

Despite a slightly drab middle section (both ‘Luis’ and ‘French Singer’ are below par) and the lack of tonal variation, the final trio of songs redeems things. ‘The Quiet’ moves from gentle strum to thirties jazz and back again (providing that variation in pace) and has a wonderful heartbreaking acoustic coda that shines as the loveliest moment on the record. ‘Ostrich Song’ is an off-key small gem, trad folk/blues and simplicity itself, and the aforementioned ‘Gallows’ parcels up humour and pain into one neat song. O, Devotion! is a strong, fascinating debut that asserts Liz Green as a unique talent to be reckoned with.