Kyla La Grange is the girl with the vampire smile

KYLA La Grange is touted as the next big female pop sensation, but she’s well aware her career is only in its infancy and is determined not to get carried away.

“I know a lot of people who have been signed and thought the world was about to fall at their feet and then have been dropped and whose albums have flopped,” says the 24-year-old from Watford.

A former philosophy student whose songs are inspired by the ‘epic sadness’ of Cat Power and Elliott Smith, La Grange may look like she’s come from nowhere to become everyone’s new indie girl crush, but her success has been years in the making.

“I feel it’s not been meteoric at all,” says the part South-African and part Zimbabwean singer ahead of her visit to Sneaky Pete’s tomorrow. “I feel I’ve just been chipping away, doing this since I left university.

“And then I just gradually met producers and people who wanted to work with me, band members and things, along the way.”

With four acclaimed singles, including the hauntingly beautiful Vampire Smile, taking in a strikingly diverse array of styles from rock to goth-pop to folk, La Grange is a difficult artist to pigeonhole.

The most common comparison is with Florence Welch, though she’s also been likened to Anna Calvi, Clare Maguire, and even a young Marianne Faithfull.

“I know a lot of singers don’t like comparisons, but it doesn’t bother me. I actually find it really interesting.”

La Grange releases her hotly-anticipated debut album this summer, but before that there’s her first headline tour.

“I’ve never done a headline tour before, so I’m really excited,” she says. “It’s exciting but at the same time it’s terrifying, because you’re never sure if people are going to like what they hear.

And if people don’t like it? “I’ll think ‘My God, five years of my life!’ ” she laughs.

Kyla La Grange, Sneaky Pete’s, Cowgate, tomorrow, 7pm, £7.50, 0131-225 1757