IN AN age that favours image over substance, Thea Gilmore's lyrics hit you like a smack in the face.

Nothing unusual about the themes - love, pain, social observation - but their firepower is breathtaking. The 21-year-old's confidence, insistence and sharply-focused energy are reminiscent of Bob Dylan.

And she's willing to shake the windows and rattle the walls of the music establishment. "I get so sick of looking at my generation at the moment," said Thea.

"Where's the rebellion gone? You have all these acts who say 'Oh, I didn't mean to cause you any trouble'.

"Music was supposed to be the final frontier and now it's been blanded out and dumbed down. The companies have taken over and it's all about what will sell rather than what people have to say.

"I hope to God it's going to change."

If there is a change, she is likely to be instrumental in it.

Thea, pictured, was born in Oxford, the daughter of Irish parents.

Music was always there at home. Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Sixties soul ensured that Thea managed to bypass the Eighties and develop her own musical sensibilities.

She acknowledges the Dylan influence but adds: "I'm a massive Leonard Cohen fan. Songs like Democracy and Everybody Knows just blow me away.

"Joni Mitchell is a big influence and so is Tom Waits with his dark, warped folk songs. All my heroes were American, and trying to sound American is a trap you fall into when you're young.

"But I've got a very English, white voice and it feels right that you sing in the accent you were born with."

Two family deaths and the break-up of her parents' marriage inspired Thea to write. She left home at 16 and got a job making tea at a local recording studio. She then formed her own record label, Shameless, and released her debut album, Burning Dorothy.

She always carries a notebook with her and many songs are based on people she observes.

Next time you're in a motorway service station, watch out for a young, straggly-haired woman with a notebook and pen.

"I look at somebody and try and figure out what their story is," said Thea. "There are so many songs in so many people.

"I sit and watch people in pubs and cafes but the best places are service stations. You find a lot of interesting people."

Among her more autobiographical songs is This Girl is Taking Bets.

This has the pace and word-count of Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues but with an unmistakably British female slant.

She portrays herself in terms of other people's experience of her. Imagery includes a body through the windscreen and stains on the pages of a top-shelf magazine.

"It's an impressionist self-portrait," said Thea. "It's about the complexities of just being. There's a lot of other people's perceptions of me."

She is already planning her next album and is unconcerned about being on the brink of stardom.

"Fame should be a by-product of doing something well. So many people get into this industry because they want fame.

"I don't care. If it comes, it comes. But what I want to do is keep making albums. I want to keep this up till I drop down dead".

* Thea Gilmore's Rules for Jokers is in the shops now. She plays Bar Fly in Cardiff on October 29. 02920 224905

* www.theagilmore.com