Despite the fact that he's still in his teens -- and blessed (or cursed) with puppy-dog good looks that threaten to make him a pinup boy -- Paolo Nutini is anything but a processed pop star. Already a platinum seller in the U.K., the 19-year-old Scottish native has a preternaturally soulful voice -- a burnished tenor that's occasionally reminiscent of
Steve Winwood -- and a knack for sounding at home in surroundings both lush and stripped down. He takes the latter approach a little less often, but when he does -- as on the fiery acoustic closer, "Alloway Grove" -- he brings forth a slightly saltier, more acerbic facet of his personality. That makes for a nice counterpoint to the disc's more heavily orchestrated pieces, such as the swelling, deceptively dark "Last Request," on which he dips deep for a wounded tone that homes in on the heartstrings with eagle-eyed precision. For the bulk of
These Streets, Nutini concentrates on matters of the heart, and being the incurably romantic type, most of his musings are of the woeful sort. The sonic range -- which takes in everything from the bluesy strains of "Loving You" to the doe-eyed folk-pop of "Jenny Don't Be Hasty" -- keeps the disc from slipping into monochrome. It also bodes well for Nutini's future -- after all, once he's old enough to have a beer Stateside, his outlook (and his sound) is bound to open up even more.
![Title: La Luna [Import Bonus Track]](https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0685738591527_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg)