Since winning the Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2011, mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately has been gradually building her reputation in both concert hall and opera house, aided by a place on the BBC’s New Generation Artists scheme. Now she makes her solo recording debut with this lovingly crafted disc of English song.

From the artwork to the repertoire and fellow performers, ‘This Other Eden’ is a very personal project – exactly the kind of quirky, quality product we’ve come to expect from young label Champs Hill. Whately is joined not only by pianist Joseph Middleton and the Navarra Quartet but also by her parents – actors Kevin Whately (best known as Lewis in Morse) and Madelaine Newton – who intersperse songs with poetry by Hardy, Housman, de la Mare et al. Whately’s daughter Ivy features prominently in the artwork, while the choice of songs reflects the mezzo’s relationship with the British countryside.

Whately is a captivating live performer, and, denied any of her usual armoury of expressive gestures, seems to compensate here with greater vocal drama. This works well for those songs with greater natural scope – Stanford’s epic-in-miniature ‘La belle dame sans merci’, Joseph Horovitz’s ‘Lady Macbeth: A Scena’, James MacMillan’s ‘The Children’ – but pushes others towards the frenetic. She can’t quite find the stillness in ‘Silent Noon’ or Warlock’s ‘My Own Country’ that is their most English quality, that fragile emotional repose.

Nevertheless, Whately’s light, flexible mezzo makes an attractive companion for an hour’s listening, especially paired with the varied textures offered by Middleton and the Navarra Quartet. This is an unusual, even old-fashioned disc, but perhaps better for that. In an age of glossily interchangeable international artists, this one isn’t afraid to tell us her story. I, for one, want to hear more.