I’m dancing to a whole new beat

Lancashire’s Charlotte OC vowed she would create her own musical universe at the age of five.

The daughter of a half Malawi, half Indian mother and an Irish father who was in The Merseybeats for a few moonlighting months in the 1960s, her household echoed to the strains of classic songwriting – John Martyn, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Talking Heads.

Charlotte O’Connor, 22, dressed up as a witch as a child, standing at the end of her driveway staring at passers-by in a long black dress. And she still stands out to this day.

In November 2012, she was in Berlin for a co-writing session for her debut album, finding herself at the Berghain, probably the best nightclub in the world, on Sunday afternoon, when a new impulse hit the singer/songwriter.

“I felt like somebody had just let me in on the biggest secret in the world.

“It felt like heaven and hell to me.”

Colour My Heart, lead track from Charlotte’s debut EP, was featured in this month’s Mixmag, who praised Charlotte for combining a Florence and the Machine-esque approach to songwriting with a forward thinking club-friendly beat.

Charlotte is currently readying her debut album, a sultry composite of structured song-writing, a freewheeling vocal range and subtle electronic edge.

“I couldn’t be prouder of it,” she says.

She plays Preston’s 53 Degrees tonight.

Support comes from Blackpool’s own rising star Jess Harwood.