British singer/songwriter Julia Fordham has been largely forgotten in her native land, where our attention is perennially focused on the next shiny trinket to come along the pop industry conveyor belt.

Nevertheless, building on the comparatively slight foundations of her 1988 hit ‘Happy Ever After’ she has manged to stay afloat in an industry which is notoriously hard on appealing young women.

In the 1990s she relocated to California, assiduously nurturing the fiercely loyal cult following which has sustained her career while most of her contemporaries from the great late eighties female singer boom have fallen by the wayside.

A solid schedule of live shows and record releases has served to sharpen her songwriting craft while moving her ever closer to the jazz mainstream.

Her latest album, China Blue, is released this month on online label Novatunes. Novatunes' commerical model is designed to be artist-driven, finding a middle way between the somewhat unsustainable Radiohead methodology and the rapidly imploding business strategies of the traditional record companies.

Fordham's album joins Novatunes' eclectic catalogue which features new work from the likes of raw funk hipster Bernard Fowler and sixties icon Graham Nash.

Stripped bare of the pop compromises which necessarily constrained her earlier records her newest album is a selection of jazz originals which are as comforting yet sophisticated as sinking into a warm bath while holding a very large Gin and Tonic.

Hear the title track, China Blue, here.

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