Although the pen is, as the old aphorism would have it, mightier than the sword, there are those who claim the microphone trumps even that. 23 year-old Anglo-Italian singer-songwriter Jack Savoretti for one. A keen poet in his youth, all this changed when his mother gave him a guitar as a 16th birthday present and Savoretti was hooked, revealing: “I was surprised how much more people listen to you when you are singing than if you read a poem.”

Despite Between The Minds being Savoretti’s debut album, he featured on two songs, ‘Anyday Now’ and ‘Hope’ by Shelly Poole, one half of Alisha’s Attic, taken from her 2005 long player, Hard Time For The Dreamer. Like our Shell, Jack’s favoured medium is pop-inclined easy listening. Which explains why he’s signed to De Angelis Records, the label set up by Natalie Imbruglia’s former manager, Anne Barrett.

Championed by the likes of Radio 2 DJ Janice Long who invited him to record his first session on her show, Savoretti also owes a debt to his Italian side of the family. It’s not only his Latin good looks that he has to thank Italia for, but the fact the country introduced him to the music of Francesco de Gregori. A singer-songwriter who took the music of the likes of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and sprinkled some Roman sunshine all over it.

Similarly, Savoretti favours optimism over pessimism. Although, he does reveal his dark side on edgy folk closer ‘Killing Man’. There is some fire in the boy’s belly, after all.

The mike truly is mightier than the pen. How else do you explain Rod Stewart’s ability to pull so many women? Savoretti, though, is the ultimate heartbreaker, however, combining swoonsome lyrics, hypnotic guitar playing, and those Latin good looks, of course.

(3½/5)