The debut album from multi-passport holding (Canadian/German/British) singer-songwriter Alice Merton is a wonderful, if perhaps not exactly ground-breaking, pop delight. Merton’s background is apparently in country music, but there are only tiny residues of that to be found here and there on Mint. Instead, it’s mostly a classy exercise in ‘grown up’ pop, with a mix of guitar (e.g., ‘Roots’; album best ‘Lash Out’) and electro (e.g. ‘Homesick’). There are plenty of hooks, but Merton also takes things to moodier, less immediate, territory (e.g., ‘Speak Your Mind’; ‘Honeymoon Heartbreak’). This adds up to a pop album that has depth and, on that basis, is a cut above most of the records made by artists who sound similar (of which, it has to be said, there are quite a number). It seems unlikely that I’ll still be playing it in months (let alone years) to come, but it has been a very enjoyable find for 2019.