There are so few perfect female pop singers with voices that are consistently beautiful and ride that fine line of anime-like cute. The only three working in the music world today are Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell, Isobel Campbell (no relation), and Amelia Fletcher.

Fletcher’s career has spanned at least 20 years in the independent pop world, starting with the brilliant band she started with her brother, Matthew, called Talulah Gosh. That group has morphed through the years into the equally good combos Heavenly, Marine Research, and Tender Trap, but all have featured, front and center, the clear, sonorous soprano of Amelia. It’s a voice that doesn’t have a great deal of range, but it has a kind of inviting warmth that will keep you playing and replaying her records for months on end.

It is this inherent quality that has made Fletcher a hot commodity as a backup vocalist too. Throughout her long career, she has been pulled in by artists like Stephin Merritt and Nick Heyward to lend her lovely voice to their songs. It makes perfect sense when you hear what she brings to the songs. Take, for example, the Brilliant Corners song “Why Do You Have to Go Out With Him When You Could Go Out With Me?” On its own, the song is nearly perfect, full of ringing guitars and a punchy bass line that keeps the song buoyant and alive (as well as Davey Woodward’s plaintive and pathetic lyrics). But, when the chorus kicks in, Fletcher shows up and takes the title line into the ether.

Elsewhere, Fletcher adds light to what could have been a ridiculous and leaden version of the Beatles’ “Getting Better” done by the Wedding Present. The amphetamine-fueled tempo, furious guitars, and spitting vocal work by David Gedge are given a much-needed cushion as Fletcher saves the response lines in the song (”Now I can’t complain”) with loveliness instead of the anger you might expect to hear. It is an almost perfect representation of the schizophrenic tone of this cover song.

The Candyskins knew what they were doing picking Fletcher to effectively save their track, “Monday Morning.” Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine pop song, but it almost starts to overstay its welcome after two-and-a-half minutes. Lucky for them, that’s the moment they bring in Fletcher’s voice. Simply having her echoing the lines of the chorus is enough to make the extended outro and constant repetition that much easier to bear.

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