By day, 30-year-old Amy Turnnidge is an occupational therapist in London who works with mentally disturbed teenagers. But by night, she is Theoretical Girl, able to thrill music geeks the world over with guitar chords and choruses about unrequited love.
It's a transformation that started after the singer's original girl group broke up and the shy Turnnidge was suddenly thrust into the spotlight for a make-or-break musical moment.
'I was going to disguise myself so the audience would never know who I was,' says Turnnidge, who plays Hong Kong tonight. 'So the plan was to have a mask or stand behind a screen. Then I realised that would be a bad idea, hence Theoretical Girl.'
Taking the name from one of her lyrics, Turnnidge is the latest in a growing line of musicians who've turned bedroom fantasies of making music into recording careers through talent, willpower, and modern technology.
With a mother who studied at the Royal Academy of Music and a father who loved Motown and soul, the musical genetics were there and the singer made the most of them, learning bass, keyboards and guitar. She then recorded songs into a four-track in her homemade bedroom studio in an effort to emulate legendary singer-songwriters such as Nick Drake, Billy Joel and Tom Waits.
'I love my home and recording is my favourite thing after work,' she says, adding that she gradually upgraded to an eight-track studio system. 'I've two favourite subjects: unrequited love. I always write about that. And then there's conflicts of some sort. The album is pretty much half and half.'
The album she's referring to is Divided, which is filled with a range of styles from 1980s-style new wave to classic 60s girl pop and even ska. Her vocals have an ethereal lo-fi quality that is somehow reminiscent of girl groups such as the Shangri-Las or 80s act the Adult Net, best heard on the single Red Mist. Other reviewers have likened her sound to everything from 80s dance act Propaganda to Echo and the Bunnymen.