Hotly tipped folkie Emmy the Great might sound like she's been plucked straight from some 16th Century English woodland glade, but she's actually rather modern and cosmopolitan. Born in Hong Kong to a Chinese mother and English father (that'll explain the exotic good looks), she's currently at the center of a London-based acoustic scene that combines traditional-inspired acoustic tunes with caustic, thoroughly contemporary lyrics.

Indeed, it's not just Emmy's pixie-like prettiness or her heart-melting voice that makes us swoon. It's the way in which this sweet-seeming package produces such deliciously sour, frequently funny, and occasionally downright dirty tales (check out the cautionary 2008 single "We Almost Had a Baby" or early B-side "If I'd Known The Last Time Was Going To Be The Last Time I Would Have Let You Enjoy It").

Emmy's debut album "First Love" will be available from Feb. 10. For now, we'll just be looking at this gallery and sighing.