Blue Roses, the pseudonym Laura Groves chose to represent the ramshackle group of musicians that play on this, her debut, is an odd choice when you consider that actual blue roses can only be made by artificial means.

The self-titled debut from 21-year-old British songwriter Laura Groves, under the name Blue Roses, thrives on the romance of youth and the unknown. On opener "Greatest Thoughts", for instance, Groves suffers her adoration for the lover who won't meet her in the middle and, even worse, will never actually understand her. But she's willing to forfeit just a bit of her young life to give him a chance: "You pulled me closer to your chest/ You were the one that I l iked best," she rhymes simply, her bracing voice whispering above a romantic piano line that recalls Claude Debussy. And over the steadily building waves of acoustic guitar that shape "Coast", Groves sings of escaping to the "coast of the East of England." Confident in the immortality afforded by youth and love, she wants to stare into the danger of the storms moving in from the sea-- with him. "I think that he and I will be saved," she sings, harmonizing the high notes herself. Indeed, the bulk of Blue Roses is a call to turn one's beliefs over to feelings and intuition, even if it results in the sort of somber, sobering imperative that ends this album: "You're better off leaving/ Just go in the night." For Groves, life's more about invigorating highs and lows than the inevitable crash that follows.