Jessica Grace is troubled; she cannot decide where to hold her special album launch gig. “I’ve been trying to decide between three locations – an undertakers, an aquarium or at my local vet,” explains the sparkly singer. “However, I think I’ve decided now - I’m going to go for The Borderline.”

London’s premier cosy live venue or that place where they put dead people in coffins; surely not a difficult choice?
Of course, there is logic behind her trademark quirky madness. “You see, there is no point having an album launch unless it generates attention. Launch alongside stiffs or fish – press attention. Launch in traditional live music venue – nobody gives a stuff.” One sees her point.

“Anyhows,” Grace chirps, twirling her hair, “the damn undertakers said it broke some bylaw, the aquarium didn’t want to upset the fish, and my vet thought I was joking. The Borderline gets it by default.”

It is worth taking note of this 28-year-old singer-songwriter for three reasons. One, amongst her wealth of leftfield material hide several hidden pop gems that will tickle the nation’s ears, ignite the charts, and turn Grace into a star. Two, her lyrics invariably pierce with startling, brutal precision. Three, her elongated journey towards success is an interesting case study in how the internet revolution has been anything but good news for many talented new artists.

Ten years ago, before the web gnawed a hole into record company profits, Jessica Grace would almost certainly have been picked up on a development deal. Her raw, soaring melodies require careful studio TLC for ultimate commercial consumption. Her home recordings had previously not done justice to her talent. “I’m a songwriter, not a producer,” she says with justification. Labels no longer have the money, inclination or wit to develop talent the way they used to. “I have sat in many record company meetings. They say to me ‘great songs, love it all’. Then they look at me blankly, not quite sure what to do because a lot of the songs are demo recordings. Unless you have already sold thousands of professionally recorded albums or have ten million MySpace friends they aren’t interested. It used to be that songs were the commodity, now it is the product - if you aren’t ready to instantly make them money then getting signed is very difficult.”

Jessica Grace makes a valid point. For every over-hyped (and PR fabricated) story of a Lily Allen or Sandi Thom scoring huge deals after launching themselves on the net there are thousands of artists starved of the necessary development required to do justice to their talent.

Considering British pop music contributes £5billion to the UK annual economy we should nurture our new acts more diligently. In the long run those ‘free downloads’ may be more costly than we realise.

For Jessica Grace it is onwards and upwards. Her new album is ready for launch and years of hard work have paid off. “I have spent years just trying to get the recordings right, sometimes writing the song is the easy part. I am trying to do as much as possible, people will be able to buy copies from my website (JessicaGrace.com), and they can also download some older tracks and artwork for free.”

Her music, a blend of genres but best described as folk with a jagged edge, boasts lyrics of brutal force. Any gems on the new album? “‘Fuck Your Brains Out’ is a strong track,” she says with a grin. A traditional ballad? “Well, it is about a guy who is now married, I wanted to do as the title suggests…but in the end I didn’t. Anyway, it is not only about that, it has different layers, the fuck part is important though.” Naturally.

Sex talk has a habit of invading Grace’s songs. Great lyrics flood her new album with biblical force, in ‘Oh! The Drama’ we are treated to “‘Flow into me / Throw things at me / Do me against the wall / Fall head over heels but don’t get boring’.”

Standout track is the sublime ‘What Is It In You?’ The sugar coated catchy chorus hook boasts revealing lyrics, it is a love song with a difference: ‘What is it in you that I want / That I can’t find in myself?’ Grace explains the simple but powerful message. “It is about the fact that although we are attracted to people who are familiar, who have traits similar to us, we often don’t recognise that the greatness is actually within ourselves. People don’t see that, the magic we idolise when we are in love is actually the magic we have within ourselves.”

What about the next line in the song: ‘Freezing my bollocks off / Not that I have them’? “Ah well that just kind of flowed off the tongue,” she says with a giggle.

After her album launch the next step for Lady Grace will be to visit her foreign fans. “I’m touring through Europe in October,” she reveals excitedly. “It will be me in a camper van with my dog - as long as I can get her back in the country again. It should be fine, she doesn’t have rabies, although by the end of the crazy trip I probably will.”

After years of grafting without results Jessica puts her recent successful progress down to one thing - Buddhism. “Chanting made this possible, it got me housing benefit,” she says straight-faced. “Honestly, chanting heals all ills, it can get you whatever you want; it focuses your mind. I have been able to get financial support until March - which means I can put 100% effort into my music.” This should give Grace plenty of time to polish her pop gems and prepare them for our consumption.

Her talent is overwhelming - her majestic voice, craftsmanship of melody, performance skills; they all meet the required standard. However it is her honesty in lyric, that unique skill of transcribing emotion succinctly into music that sets her apart.

Jessica ponders, “So after reading my interview do you think people will go and check out my music?” Yes, if they have any sense they will.

www.tourdates.co.uk/jessica-grace
Jessica Grace plays Bedsprings at The White Hart, Whitechapel on 13 September 2007.