Phases & Stages

Duffy

Billed as the next Amy Winehouse, oh-so-blond Aimee Anne Duffy snores coffee-shop product. Debut LP Rockferry, written with Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, attempts to smooth Winehouse's edges via a straightedge singer and former contestant on Welsh megahit Wawffactor. Wanna guess the show's premise? Vanilla as it is carbon, Rockferry opens with its promising title track, a lilting, 1960s orchestra seduction, but as the octaves rise, Duffy cracks. Single "Serious" glues white-girl soul, R&B, and rap to En Vogue/Nelly Furtado effect; blues riff "Syrup & Honey" retches on the Mississippi Delta; and closer "Distant Dreamer" floats teeth-numbing confetti. Hell, the girl didn't even win Wawffactor. Duffy's the Clay Aiken of nuevo "soul."