Marina Celeste is a painter, author of children’s tales and a singer-songwriter from Paris. On stage she mixes Edith Piaf’s vulnerability and Serge Gainsbourg’s predatory sexuality into a Gallic cocktail which is all her own.

It is a powerful brew which on Friday night at the Latest Music Bar intoxicated both singer and audience. Her set was punctuated with miscues, bum notes and longueurs, but the small crowd wedged into the venue’s downstairs bar was in indulgent mood.

Her entrance into the mainstream market came as one of a revolving roster of singers with Nouvelle Vague, postmodern beatniks who transformed angry punk anthems into easy listening for post-Grunge parents. It was a neat trick and Celeste still knows how to pull it off. A bossa nova version of Guns Of Brixton and a salsa-inflected cover of Mötley Crüe’s Too Fast For Love were the highlights of the night, bringing out the best of guitarist’s Bogdan Terry’s nimble fretwork.

Her own compositions suffered in comparison. Love Is Crazy was a 12-bar rockabilly retread, while Give Me Some Of Your Love sounded like a Giorgio Moroder outtake.

Brits love female singers with big personalities and voices to match – Amy Winehouse and Adele – and in this company Celeste’s fey style is bound to pall.

Marina Celeste has undeniable beauty – her songs could use a little more truth.