Sometimes bands act as incubators for the stars of the future. So it is with Rose Elinor Dougall, who joined polka-dot popstrels The Pipettes as a teenager and left four years later as a young woman with a drive to strike out on her own. The 24 year-old recently unveiled her sparkling debut album, Without Why (Aug 2010), which presents her as the new face of smart, sophisticated indie pop, full of baroque twinkles, killer melodies and heartfelt lyrics. Dougall had begun working on the album in January 2008, entering the studio with producer Lee Baker in September of that year. "It took about 18 months before we both felt the record was finished, but as this is my first solo record, it was really important to let the project develop naturally, for me to carve out my own sound and really understand what that was." Without Why features 11 tracks whose influences betray Dougall's still tender years. Although a love of the folk music she inherited from her parents' record collection (Fairport Convention, Bridget St. John, Joni Mitchell...) is easily detected in the melodies throughout the album, it's the delicate textures of decidedly English alt-pop greats like The Smiths, Felt, The Durutti Column and The Sundays that seem to frame the songs in a unique, decidedly brittle, yet romantic exterior. Although previous singles (Another Version Of Pop Song, Start/Stop/Synchro, Fallen Over) are the tracks shouting the loudest, it's the slower, more thoughtful material from her debut