Abisha session

Sometimes it really is worth taking your mum's advice. Abisha was heading for fashion school when her mum suggested she should really take up an offer to study Sociology at London's famous Goldsmiths University. Celebrating the end of her first year in a pub in New Cross, she found herself stood next to Mike Chapman, the '70s songwriter and producer behind Blondie's Parallel Lines, as well as recent cuts from Laura Doggett and FKA Twigs. He asked if she could sing, and gave her his number. The rest is currently being laid down in pop history.

Or rather, mellow and moody, R'n'B-tinged alt-pop history. It's hard to say exactly, because Abisha is 22, and has been finding a new aspect of her sound with each single.

All That, her debut single, is built around smouldering and skittering beats. New single Confused sees her heading in a more chilled direction, as she tries to choose between two lovers. It is, she says, a track that's easily relatable, but still a bit underground.

Abisha grew up in Devon, where her main encounter with music was via the chart pop played at her local dance class, and where she was "the only mixed race person in my school." Spice Girl Mel B was her first black role model. So the move to multicultural London didn't just bring that chance meeting with Mike Chapman – it has, she says, felt like finding her home.

Watch Abisha perform Confused and All That.