My DNA

As the singer with Bis, who were momentarily semi-famous as leaders of the imaginary 'Teen-C Revolution', Manda Rin was one of Britpop's bit-part players. A solo album 12 years after the band's peak seems uncalled for. But this debut is surprisingly fresh. Her breathless waif-squeak has been paired with up-to-date electronics, and the outcome could well hold its own against Robyn and Lykke Li. Evincing much greater ability than she did in the simplistic Bis, Rin has written all the songs here and played every instrument, leading to the conclusion that if she had known in 1996 how to write giddy arm-wavers like these, Bis would have achieved more than just a couple of top 50 singles. Her subject matter - the size-zero fuss, domestic disharmony - neatly offsets the music's frothiness, making for an album that's better than most would have expected.