I know exactly what this thread is getting at and I can't stand it either. It's not just confined to women - there's plenty of men who sing in a similarly affected way. Not necessarily all breathy and baby-doll ish, so much as self-consciously eccentrically styled. Whatever you think of their music, the following people have a lot to answer for: Bjork, Devendra Banhart, Anthony (of & the Johnsons fame), Vashti Bunyan, Joanna Newsom et al.

A lot of (young) singers use it as short-hand for: "I'm a bit dark and witchy and mysterious. I occasionally communicate with woodland animals. I might well have been raised by wolves". To take one example, I would quite enjoy the music of Mary Hampton if she had the maturity to resist this tendency.

Two young singers I particularly like, whose delivery is refreshingly no-nonsense, are Jonny Kearney (www.myspace.com/jonnykearney) and 'Serious' Sam Barrett (www.myspace.com/sambarrett). I also recently heard a lovely couple of songs delivered acapella by Lauren McCormick (of Devil's Interval) at Cecil Sharp House the other weekend. She has a pretty voice, but it's utterly unpretentious. I could say the same about Bella Hardy, though with the caveat that she occasionally - only very occasionally mind – veers a little too close to Andrea Corr territory for my rather liking. I'm quite militant and churlish about this kind of thing though.