This is the second album from Norwegian songbird Lene Marlin, still a mere slip of a thing in her late teens yet writing her own songs with the maturity of a fully-fledged songwriter.

By her own admission she was astonished by the success of Sitting Down Here in 2000, a song that found its way into the heart of commercial radio. The album Playing My Game was also a big hit worldwide, even earning her an MTV award for Best Scandinavian Artist.

There was a lingering suspicion for me, however, that the songs, finely crafted and heartfelt as they were, did not hold the interest sufficiently for an entire album, serving rather better as pleasant wallpaper. That suspicion continues into Another Day, although this time Lene (pronounced Lay-ner) has taken on producer Mike Hedges, whose CV impressively lists credits for the likes of U2, The Cure and Travis.

The result is a more acoustic song, typified by the spiky guitars of Sorry, which is also decorated with a nice string part to single it out as one of the record's strongest tracks. Similarly, the single You Weren't There, despite sliding close to Cranberries territory, presses the right radio buttons, as it were.

As indicated by the cover, Another Day is perhaps an even more sombre record than Playing My Game, which was highly introspective. Fight Against The Hours illustrates this by featuring a barely audible vocal over a dark, pulsing bass. Meanwhile the intimate My Love is a heartfelt wish to "please come and find me my love, I'm ready to come home."

I personally prefer Marlin's voice when she's set over a more electronic production, which would bring her more into the terrain of Beth Hirsch or Dot Allison. Whilst there's plenty of cool sophistication to commend Another Day, the feeling remains that the music is just going through the motions.

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Mercury Prize 2009 nominees