WHATEVER YOU think about the subject matter of Eleanor McEvoy's breakthrough song, 'A Woman's Heart', melodically it is a pure delight. Listening to her debut album one also hears undeniable evidence of a classically trained, and gifted, composer at work.

Not that the mournful mode of 'A Woman's Heart' dominates this disc. On the contrary, those who come to Eleanor McEvoy seeking an endlessly mellow mood will soon be blown away by the singer-songwriter's obvious other love - for rock rhythms, particularly electric guitar licks that leap and slide, as in 'Apologise'.

In 'Music of It All' the guitarist, apparently at Eleanor's suggestion, makes his dobro sound like a sitar to capture the oriental sounds she found so attractive while touring Japan. 'For You' also uses unresolved, Wagnerian harmonies a la 'Tristan and Isolde', which are perfectly in tune with the theme of the song. Clearly, this woman writes her words and music at the same time, with perfect union being her ultimate goal.

Unfortunately, she sometimes gets lost somewhere between her classical background, acoustic base and aspirations towards rock, as in a track like 'Apologise' which is not helped by some ham-fisted licks from her drummer.

'Go Now', on the other hand, is musically and lyrically sublime, a savagely insightful evocation of the death of love, particularly that moment when one person realises she, or he, has to tell a lover to leave. 'Leave Her Now', with its twist in the final line, focuses on another form of psychic upheaval, the feelings swirling round the head and heart of a woman who has lost a child through a miscarriage.

Despite similar brave excursions into areas that are relatively uncharted in rock, and in Irish music, the overall tone Eleanor McEvoy's debut album is celebratory - even in a sexual sense, as in that techno-erotic mix 'Not Quite Love'.

One suspects that as a woman who not only sings like a dark-hearted angel but also composes all her own songs, Eleanor McEvoy may yet soar above many of her peers on A Woman's Heart.

* Joe Jackson