Chan Marshall's career has been all about learning to move – from the alluringly static lo-fi mumblings of her Nineties albums to the shyly swinging Memphis soul of 2006's The Greatest. Here she really gets truckin'. "Ruin" is her poppiest, most straight-ahead song ever: a rolling piano and pushy drums drive lyrics about restless travel – from Saudi Arabia to Soweto to Belfast. But this isn’t some eat-pray-love yuppie self-searching. What’s all the ramble-tamble wandering taught her? "Some people ain’t got shit to eat," she snaps. Looks like there’s a new Bono in town.

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• Photos: Random Notes

“The A Team”

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.