Spend any amount of time with songwriter Eleanor Lou, and you'll notice she's prone to speaking in rather grandiose, yet enticingly poetic terms. Hailing originally from the south, but now based in Manchester (where she's studying for that archaeology degree), this 22-year-old songwriter has gone some considerable distance to rewriting the rulebook on how female solo artists go about their business.
A lone performer, armed only with distorted, crashing electric guitar, Eleanor Lou is on a bold crusade to prove that not all female performers in 2008 are meek, mawkish Brit School graduates with delusions of Winehouse grandeur.
Fleetwood Mac
Citing influences as wide-ranging as Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks ("She's the ultimate female rock role model," says Eleanor), and esoteric literary figures such as Francoise Sagan and Diane Di Prima, Eleanor Lou clearly isn't satisfied with the lowly standards female performers set themselves in the current climate. She wants them all to aspire to something grander - dare we say, iconic even.
"I really can't relate to any female performers around now," Eleanor rants. "Adele, Duffy, all these bland Brit School singers. For me, they're all just soulless.
"Yes, they can sing okay - but just because you have a nice voice, it doesn't mean you have any soul.
"My female idols aspired to something more - people like Patti Smith or Kate Bush. They were very empowering. That's what I want to be - I want to be iconic. I don't want to be another songwriter who's just popular for five minutes. I'm gonna make a lot of records."
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