Who’d have thought that an album simply titled ‘Steve’ could contain such a myriad of delights! Āvā & The Fates is the musical project of 17-year-old Ava Ellis (brought up in London but now based in Sunderland), and she’s produced an idiosyncratic thing of joy; an album that fuses a Cocteau Twins-like sense of wonder with the kind of lo-fi wonky charm that shoots bedroom pop into orbit. From the eerily hypnotic ‘Waxed or Waned’ to the Kate Bushisms of ‘Throne Song’, it’s a release that speaks of a talent unbound by convention. DP

Out now, self release