Louise Latham Wales, United Kingdom

Louise, an English Literature graduate from Royal Holloway University of London, took her first step into writing her own songs during her time at university. This resulted in Fatuma, a song championed by award winning songwriter Tommy Sands on his Northern Irish Radio show. The song laid the foundation for a lot of the themes that would inform her writing, personal storytelling, human politics, struggle, honesty, hope, dreams and innocence.

If Louise found an ally in Sands, she found sonic architects in Arno Guveau and Greg Haver, the producers behind Reclaimed. Guveau, who previously worked with Manfred Mann and former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Weston, with his empathic production and cinematic arrangements, manages to accentuate rather than overstate the dark romantic heart of Louise's writing. Haver, an award-winning producer who has worked with Melanie C and The Manic Street Preachers, is known for his diverse production skills and innovative arrangements which resulted in warm and lush arrangements on Reclaimed. "The record has a haunting, dramatic and magical atmosphere complementing the songs themselves beautifully." Louise says.

Reclaimed was finally masterminded by twice Grammy Nominee mixer Jeremy Wheatley. Wheatley has delivered numerous number 1 hits and works with an impressive array of artists including Emeli Sande, Taylor Swift and Duffy to name a few. The result is a sound that branches off in a myriad of wonderful directions such as the country-esque Melt Me Down Like Chocolate, the soaring alt-pop of Erase Me, the atmospherics and quiet majesty of Together Tonight to the minimalist outpouring of emotion of Reclaimed itself.

And then there's Louise's voice - pure, ethereal, intense, profoundly moving. When she talks about touchstones, she mentions the simplicity and economy of Tracy Chapman's compositions, the big quiet of Tori Amos's Boys For The Pele album, and the ambitious scope of Sarah McLachlan's Fumbling Towards Ecstacy.