The Chicago Times has called singer-songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield ‘A contender to follow in the footsteps of Lucinda Williams and Neko Case’.

On Mayfield’s Nonesuch debut, ‘Tell Me’, produced and engineered by her long-time champion Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, the 21- year-old Ohio native displays an almost preternatural maturity. There’s a cool matter-of-factness in her vocal approach that’s at times startling in its directness, especially on tracks like ‘Grown Man’ and ‘Trouble’. Praising the ‘stark reflections on life and love’ on her previous album, the Independent noted, ‘She seems old before her time, tackling lust, regret, infatuation and rejection with an all-too-adult ambivalence in a woozy, bluesy delivery’. The Daily Mirror advised, ‘Stick with her lucid settings, slow moans and snakey charms, and a strong, dreamy spell takes hold’.

This new collection of fractured love songs and heartbreak tales – recorded at Auerbach’s vintage-gear-stocked Easy Eye Sound Systems in Ohio – features slow-motion alternative country with an intriguingly otherworldly quality, more Mazzy Star than Patsy Cline. The occasional pop-rock turn, on tracks like ‘Blue Skies Again’ and ‘Nervous Lonely Night’, sport a similar ghostly feel, as if beamed in on an AM radio signal that got lost in the stars for 40 years or so. ‘Tell Me’ is techno pop stripped bare, humanized by Mayfield’s plaintive monologue. Along with his producing chores, Auerbach sings back-up and plays guitar and even moog synthesizer.

Black Keys’ fans will be familiar with Mayfield from her guest-star spot on the duo’s 2008 disc, Attack and Release (‘Things Ain’t Like They Used To Be’) and an appearance on Auerbach’s solo effort, Keep It Hid (‘When the Night Comes’).