Many will try to argue but the truth isthat it's not where you're from but where you're at. Bearing that inmind it makes no difference that the diminutive, pensive beautysitting in front of me is the daughter of one of the more famousmusicians from the late 70's and 80's, because she is here on her ownmerits rather than any sort of fame by association. Coco Sumner hasbeen notching up increasing amounts of attention lately, but afterchatting to the affable young lady barely out of her teens I begin towonder if much of the press coverage is for the wrong reasons. Forthe truth is that the majority of what I have read about her needlesat the fact that her father is Sting, he of the long winded sexualrattle and former singer with the Police. While this is undeniablytrue, these same articles have sought to denounce the buddingmusician for her parentage. A good deal of similar sounding vitriolmay be more accurately levelled at the offspring of other ageingstars, but there are two things that save Coco from the same unfaircategorisation.

Born Eliot Paulina Sumner in Pisa,Italy, in 1990 to Gordon Sumner and Trudie Styler, much of her earlylife was spent in the idyllic surrounds of the Wiltshire countrysidein South West England. She first started writing songs around the ageof fifteen, though had starting playing around with a guitar as earlyas ten years before that. It is small wonder then that having justreached twenty years of age she is releasing her début album,having already collaborated with a handful of incredibly talentedindividuals.

Her first recorded efforts began tosurface several years ago and, somewhat telling of her heritage wereheavily influenced by a mixture of reggae and pop punk. What shonethrough those early recordings more than anything was her strong,husky voice and a huge amount of unpolished talent. Her first releasewas a 1997 white label 7” of “I Blame Coco”, a track she wrotewith Mr. Hudson that year. It was from this record that she took herstage name.

“It started off with being calledCoco the Clown,” explains the striking singer behind an unkempttangle of hair. “I don't really know why. My mum started calling methat as a kid and then a few people started calling me that and thenit started to stick. But when I printed up “I Blame Coco” I foundmyself writing the name of the song over and over again on to thesleeves and when I got to the shop they asked me what the name of theartist was and I used that. It seemed like I had written this nameout about 500 times so I should use it.”

By her own admission many of her firstsongs she wrote were typical of a teenager's mind; angsty andmelancholic for no good reason. Though with the benefit of some yearsof experience they started to materialise into something deeper andmore cryptic. Enquiring about the change of musical direction andwhether that process is forever open to changing views and thegathering of experience netted a considered response. “I think themusical brain is just like any other brain and it needs to go throughprocesses of learning things and processing them. I think I'mlearning every day and I'm hearing about new music every day sothat's very inspiring.”

Sumner can found on guest vocal dutieson several tracks in the last few years, notably Miike Snow's“Animal” from 2009 and Sub Focus' drum and bass crossover hit“Splash” from earlier this year. The Sub Focus collaboration wasin trade for a remix of her first single “Self Machine” whichalso got re-rubs from La Roux, Pangea and super fixer Chew Fu. WhilstRackNRuin and Arthur Baker have had their way with “In SpiritGolden”. This eclecticism is not just a nod to management choiceseither, as Sumner tells me she's asked Matthew Dear to remix her nextsingle, “Turn Your Back On Love.” She says she enjoys thecrossover creative appeal of trading remixes for vocal spots, thoughis hesitant about becoming known for being a guest artist.

“I think there is a point where youcan do that too much and you end up losing a sense of your owndirection,” she states emphatically.

From the early skank of her reggaetinged material through to her current work, the big leap in Sumner'ssound can be attributed to her work with Swedish producer KlasÅhlund, previously ofTeddybears fame and sometime producer for Robyn, Eagle Eye Cherry andJordin Sparks. Sumner was in the midst of a love/hate period withLondon and needed some breathing space, so decided to take some timeout.

“London can often be my oppressor,”states Sumner quietly, “and it was becoming too much so I spunaround a globe and my finger landed on Sweden. So I just went therewithout knowing anyone or where I was going to stay or anything. Iworked all that out when I got there, and ended up staying for aboutsix months.”

It was during this time and inattendance at a Gnarls Barkley concert that a friend pointed out Klas Åhlund, knowing thatSumner was a fan of both Teddybears and Robyn. After introducingherself the two started talking about music and it wasn't long beforeshe was visiting the producer at his studio, eventually leading tothe two making music together and working on her first album. Thereis an understated quality to Sumner that belies her age, as she omitscertain facts from our conversation that any other young person wouldbe only too happy to boast about. She leaves out the sessions she hadin Los Angeles or earlier ones in Jamaica. In fact she doesn'tmention anything about what must be a very interesting life full oftravel and access to places and faces that the majority of peopledon't even have on their radar. It is this sort of discretion thatfurther shines a favourable light on the musician. That, and herattitude towards some of her seemingly more glamorous jobs that shehas undertaken too. Seeing the look of abject disdain at evenbringing up her brief stint modelling for Burberry or the bit partshe had in the 2007 feature film Stardust is enough to lead me tobelieve that being a model or an actor is not high on her list ofprofessions.

“I did a little bit of modelling whenI was younger but it was nothing I was proud of or anything I thoughtmuch of,” she confirms. “And I have never really acted before, Iwas just an extra as a way to make a quick little bit of cash. Butmusic has always been my focus, I just did those things to fund myway.”

Despite the natural tendency to thinkthat someone from such a privileged background doesn't need to thinkabout funding her own way, it would be churlish to think that justbecause of her background, Sumner doesn't have her own sense of pridein wanting to do things for herself. The signs are there, fromrunning off to Sweden for some time out from everything she knows, toself releasing her first recordings to forging her own path throughmusic by releasing her album with relatively little fanfare. Thealbum itself, The Constant, may not be destined for immediate classicstatus but it shows immense promise, something the folk at IslandRecords obviously picked up on, having signed the singer for amulti-album deal. I wonder if this is in any way daunting, having apledge to complete so much work ahead of her at such an early stageof her career. Though the thought may have crossed her mind, carefulwords flow from her and find footing in a positive outlook on thetask in front of her.

“Hmmm,I'm really looking forward to... I've already started to write thesecond album. This first one hasn't really felt like a first album,it's felt like a learning process, like this is the first bit of workI'm handing in to the teacher, or the world I guess. So I'm sure I'lllearn from this one and then future albums will feel like more of ajourney to make.”

Thepolished, electronic pop sheen of The Constant may not always hit themark, but within the chrome-plated production and catchy riffs liessomething more enduring, something that is more obvious when hearingSumner play the songs with an acoustic backing. While Klas Åhlundcan rightly be accredited for that pop overdrive with some help fromEliot's friends Dan Foat and Nathan Boddy from the DJ/production teamWild Geese (who gave the tracks a “bit more punch andcompression”), you only need to search for Sumner's acoustic setson Youtube to see that her songs come with a solid base to beginwith.

“I think it's very important whenyou're writing song that they're songs first and then you can put anyproduction on them whether it's electronic, dubstep or whatever,”she says to explain the two sides to her work. “As long as you havethe structures there and they're written by an organic and naturalbasis then you can do whatever you want with them. And I like playingacoustic shows because it's more about the song side of it ratherthan the pop side of it, whatever that means,” she adds with a raresmile. Perhaps the best way to exemplify this is to look at the twoversions she has recorded of Neil Young's timeless paean “Only LoveCan Break Your Heart”. The first appeared on the Luv Luv Luv labelas a 7” single and was a faithful rendition of Young's version sungas a duet with Fyfe Dangerfield from the Guillemots. It was sweet andtender; a worthy cover, not the sort of drab effort you'd utter a 'ifit ain't broke' maxim at before blanking it from your mind forever.The other version can be found on The Constant, and is a cover of themarvellous Saint Etienne version from 1990. Again it is very true tothat version and succeeds for staying true to that course.

“I heard the Neil Young version whenI was very young and really loved that, then when I was a bit older Iheard this song from this other band (St. Etienne) who were massive,and there was this video for them of this huge party and thisexciting new sound. House music has also been very inspiring to meand my musical... likings,” smiles Sumner as she fails to find thewords to express herself properly. “So I didn't want to changeeither of those two songs very much because they were both reallytributes to those songs and those artists, which is why they're sosimilar to the originals.”

This sort of respect towards music ismost likely something she has learnt by being so close to it herwhole life. Picking up that guitar before she had reached half adecade on the planet, having not just an incredibly famous musicianfor a father but also having an older brother who had follwoed thosefootsteps before her. It was an upbringing that had her hold both IanDrury and ABBA near to her heart. When I voiced a similarpredilection to the Swedish pop stars at an early age she wonderedwhy people hold them in such disdain, almost embarrassed to like aband who had such incredible melodies.

“I also went through stages of likingsome quite angry music,” she says, delving deeper into her earlyinfluences. “Things like the Prodigy and Rage Against the Machine.When you're the smallest in the family and the smallest at school youwant to listen to music with swear words and you want to throw piecesof paper at the teacher and that sort of thing. I didn't actuallythrow paper at the teacher but I liked that musical attitude, it'smuch more expressive.”

Whilst that angry side of Sumner maynot have shown itself obviously on The Constant, you only have tolisten to the lyrics throughout the thirteen tracks to see thatnonetheless there is a mind trying to probe a bit deeper into lifethan many of her peers. Alienation and observation both play partsalong with the standard tropes of love and idealism. The imageryladen lyrics have been fuelled by more than listening sessions of IanDrury and Abba though, there's also some heavy reading on thenight-stand.

“Itake a lot of imagery from some of the books and films I've enjoyedand use that in my songs. I was reading Brave New World before I madethe album and not so much the sci-fi part of it but more just theslightly dark and sinister tone it was written in, that stayed withme. Same with the Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. It's about a man wholives as a recluse and thinks he's a wolf. It's all very dark andthat helped me create a lot of imagery for the album too.”

Sumner sums things up best herself whenI ask her about how her experiences have been so far in the fairlytreacherous waters of pop music. Mentioning the strong unit of hermanagement and label, saying they help each other make carefulchoices, she adds to close, “I think trial and error is not alwaysthe best thing to do but it certainly is a way.”