After a whirlwind two years, a teenage performer from Shipley with the voice of an angel has matured into a confident young lady with endearing charm.

There is an excitement in Laura Groves, below, now 20, as she sips on a cuppa at Bradford's Love Apple Café. And rightly so, for the singer/songwriter has just signed a record contract with XL/Salvia records that will see her produce her debut album.

It is fine reward for an artist who has been a favourite of the burgeoning Bradford music scene, playing material she wrote and practised in her bedroom. A rec-ord contract has been dangled in front of her for some time, and her debut single was frustratingly delayed, but her career is once again gathering momentum.

So far her impressive vocal range and piano and guitar-playing have graced the stage before 1,500 as a support act for The Guillemots.

Laura's delicate, twinkling sound brings together intricate tones of folk, indie and acoustic music, creating a sound which crosses all those conventions, peels away the commercial skin of modern music and makes the listener feeling warmed and calm.

Her limited edition debut single, I Am Leaving, encapsulates all that. First earmarked for release in January/February last year, 500 seven-inch vinyl copies finally appeared on the XL label, home of the White Stripes, in independent music stores in October.

It tells the story of a young runaway mouse called Mishko who realises there's no place like home and is saved by a heroic owl.

Explaining its delay, Laura said: "There are lots of factors - it just kept getting put back. It was a brand new label, that's the first thing that was being released and it had some teething problems. It was a relief to have finally released it and it did quite well - most of them sold out."

Her manager, Mark Husak, the man behind monthly music night Granadaland at Love Apple, and friend Michael Connolly created the images in the song's music video out of felt, pipe cleaners and cross stitch.

It has appeared on MTV2 and the NME website, and Gideon Coe played the track on his BBC6 radio show.

She got a surprise around this time when her friend called her from Topshop in Manchester because her video was being played on Topshop TV and Laura could hear it in the background.

The video has more than 1,700 plays on YouTube and her MySpace webpage has received more than 68,000 hits.

With genuine charm and modesty, Laura says her popularity has come as a surprise.

"I wrote these songs two years ago and had no idea what would happen, it was just a little idea. I had no intention of it growing.

"It's really exciting, it's what I really want to do. I don't know what else I would be doing.

"My ambition has grown since I started and over the last two years I have developed confidence. You get used to performing and you can be more relaxed.

"I think there's more momentum behind me. I'm ready to record now."

She has been compared to singers Joni Mitchell and Joanna Newsom but she doesn't want to be pigeon-holed.

"I want to try my own stuff. I don't want to fit neatly into folk, I want to make my music more interesting and I want to be someone who can play live.

"I'm quite inspired by this area and where I live and everyday things. I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, a lot of folky stuff. At the moment I'm going through a big Fleetwood Mac stage, but Kate Bush is my idol."

Laura is set to start recording the album over the next couple of weeks and hopes it will be released some time in the summer.

  • Her next live performance is at The Adelphi, in Leeds, with Jonny Flynn at 8pm tomorrow.