POP MUSIC REVIEW : Ancient Strains on Tanita Tikaram’s Heart

Whatever intentions Tanita Tikaram might have had in titling her debut album “Ancient Heart,” the taciturn 19-year-old sensation came off as almost shockingly cool, collected, mature and just plain old beyond her years Tuesday at the Roxy.

She has a deep voice you’d expect out of someone into middle age, made even less girlish Tuesday by the apparent ravages of touring. She has a distanced yet not impolite stance you’d expect from someone who’s lived a little (or a lot). And though Tikaram’s themes can be maddeningly vague, it’s hard to pick out a single lyric cliche in her entire repertoire. Imagine what she’ll be like at 39.

Despite her somber image, the Englishwoman has rollicking tunes that incorporate strains of country and Van Morrison-style Celticisms. And though the interesting arrangements on her album (like that attention-getting oboe on the hit “Twist in My Sobriety”) can be explained away to producers, the best moments Tuesday came when the fine band departed and Tikaram stood alone with her acoustic guitar, singing very odd songs like “Poor Cow.”

The real test with seemingly impenetrable songs like these is whether the singer and sound are alluring enough to make a listener want to penetrate them. You do, you do.

Tikaram’s one flaw in concert, though, was closing her eyes through every song. Some performers can convince an audience they’re in a trance state, but Tikaram seemed to be forcing herself to keep her peepers shut, as if she’d turn into a pumpkin if she glimpsed the sold-out crowd. That strain diminished not only her performance, but her singular, exotic beauty. Nervous, suppose? Perhaps Tikaram’s heart is not yet all that ancient after all.