THE chances are, you are more likely to be familiar with Scottish sprite KT Tunstall than prolific Oxfordshire singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore, although Thea’s provocatively titled You’re The Radio has been blaring out of petrol station shops and HSBC banks alike.

It is hard to put a finger on why Tunstall sallies forth, while Gilmore still remains commercially becalmed when both share such confidence in their songwriting, a persuasive way with a tune and an arresting turn of phrase.

Both are rooted in folk too, yet spread far and wide from there, but maybe Tunstall’s greater flexibility of vocal tone and rhythmic vigour are the decisive factors. On her third album, she ranges freely with what she calls “natural techno” in songs of campfire intimacy and sometimes fiery heat as the tigress prowls through Glamour Puss and Golden Frames.

Elsewhere she is softer and pop-sassy on (Still) A Weirdo and The Entertainer, where the distant echo of Stevie Nicks can be heard.

Gilmore, meanwhile, nails domestic dramas, new motherhood and slinky sexual longing with a new intimacy that marks her passing 30.