Mary Leay comes from the small town of East Grinstead in Sussex and her debut album is a personal set of songs with themes of change and a longing to move on without bitterness.
Her desires for fresh experiences and new horizons are tempered by a strong attachment to the creature comforts of home.
Take Me As I Could Be is about striving to be someone stronger and better; on Where Are We Now she sings of "trying to face the world alone" while on For The Last Time she asks "Can we ever really leave?"
There's plenty of procrastination and pent up emotion behind these songs; a lot of uncertainty too, which comes out strongly in the first two songs Trying To Love You ("I'm trying to stop from dying inside") and This Day ("I can't help wondering if I should change my plans").
Both these opening tracks are power ballads with full string arrangements, the type of big scale productions that wouldn't be out of place on recordings by singers like Elaine Paige of Sarah Brightman.
This possibly has something to do with the fact that Leay originally trained with an opera singer and initially thought she'd end up singing in shows or theatre.
Arguably, the grandiose arrangements make sense as she has the kind of pure, delicate voice that needs a strong backing to give a greater impact.
The drawback to this is that the subtlety of her vocals gets a little swamped and I would have liked to hear more songs with a more understated or acoustic setting. Rose Of Gold, for example, has more of a new country feel which works very well.
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All ten songs are co-written by Leay and producer Michael McEvoy with the exception of a slowed down and fairly lacklustre cover of Yes' Owner Of A Lonely Heart.
McEvoy also plays electric guitar, bass and piano on the album which was recorded in Steve Winwood's Wincraft Studio in Gloucestershire.
It's an undemanding easy listening album but there's an unassuming and sincere quality which is enhanced by the fact that no obvious attempt has been made to include any catchy or gimmicky tracks.
These are simply songs by a young artist on the brink of a new life.
On the reflective final track, Making My Move, she expresses doubts about where her talent and ambition might lead her. "Will I sink or fall?" she asks rhetorically.
On the strength of this fine record, swimming and flying look to be more likely possibilities
Mary Leay's website
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