Folk-funk-jazz singer Katharina Heinrich wants to share her love for life with you. Stephen Morris reviews the latest album by the Queen of Convenience.

Katharina Heinrich may well be the most deserving of the title "International Artist" ever to grace the pages of BBC Gloucestershire's Music web site. Born in Germany and flitting between Ireland and her homeland, Katharina has finally come to set up shop in Stroud.

The Beginnings of a Musical Career:

Her second album, Love for Life, opens with a recording of a much younger Katharina singing a babble of made up lyrics ("Flee - Flee Fly - Flee Fly Flo" - perhaps she's a giant with a strange speech impediment) before we are introduced to the velvet toned chanteuse that Katharina has become.

We Love Life:

Love For Life is not just the album's title, neither is it just the title of the second track. But it is also the theme of the album as a whole. Even the sadder songs such as "Sometimes" ("Sometimes I feel I'm all alone"), exude a warmth - the aural equivalent of a woolly jumper.

Amid a gentle wave of skatting, Katharina delivers a Papa & Nicole car ad of an album. "Who can teach love for life?" She asks in the album's title track. If anyone could, it might just be Katharina herself.

Songs in the Key of Katharina:

According to her press release, some of Katharina's strongest influences include Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits, Stevie Wonder and Rickie Lee Jones. But there are resemblances to other musicians too: Nick Drake, Nikka Costa, Kathryn Williams and Morcheba readily spring to mind.

The piano on this recording alone is enough to melt the coldest of hearts - and when blended with a funky guitar sound and the light vocals of Katharina and her backing singers, it feels like winter need never bother us again.

Waterproof Musical Instruments:

Admittedly, some lyrics featured are a little unusual. "You don't need a swimming suit/all you need is your electric guitar" she croons as advice to the aquatically inclined in "Swimming". It's an odd piece advice. Dangerous too, if the thing is still plugged into the mains. So perhaps this album should come with a health warning.

Elsewhere, the lyrics are merely repetitive: the Stevie Wonder style "I know" and "Sometimes" are good examples of this. They move along with their own grace that words seem irrelevant. Who cares what she knows? She knows it. And that's good enough for me.

And John Thompson Said "Nice":

Listening to Katharina, it is easy to imagine yourself being whisked off to some trendy basement jazz club. Katharina sings softly through the smoke to an appreciative audience, while the musicians strum, pluck and tap their instruments with a smiling nod and the occasional "yeah".

Love for Life is a magical album, a delight from juvenile beginning to older, wiser end. Listen to it soon.

12/03/04 - First published on www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire on this link