Twenty-three-year-old Welsh singer-songwriter Aimee Duffy, who has gone simply by Duffy since she was 19, is reminiscent of her fellow Amy (Winehouse) in many ways. She is all full-sounding ‘60s soul with an alt-pop twist. There are trumpets, trombones and piano, complete with vamping, simple choruses and call and response (most of which, quite refreshingly, Duffy recorded over her own lead vocals.)

But where Winehouse is, although wonderfully so, rather pouty and melancholy, Duffy is walking-down-the street-in-new-shoes pop. Duffy has the same powerhouse, emotion-laden vocals as her Brit counterpoint, but overall her freshman album “Rockferry” is a softer, calmer, less-intense listen. Even her first single off the album, “Mercy,” which spent five weeks atop the UK’s singles’ charts, is a lamenting yet up-beat dance-mix-ready tune about the vulnerability of attraction. She sings, “I don’t know what you do/ but you do it well/ I’m under your spell/ You got me begging you for mercy/ why won’t you release me.”

In fact, Duffy sings rather happily about heartache and love lost throughout the album, which expounds almost exclusively on the dealings of the heart. Over the funky-meets-pop beat of “Serious” she asks, “I get a feeling deep down inside/ something just ain’t right/ I get a feeling I know/ baby, you never show/ how you really feel for me/ tell me can we ever be/ serious?” “Hanging on Too Long,” which starts as a slower, despondent track about, well, figuring out that you’ve hung on a little too long, works itself into a layered, full-bodied, toe-tapping chorus.

“Warwick Avenue,” which is the second single off her album, also starts slowly, bass plucking along a riff straight from your mom’s “Best of the ‘60s” album. The song builds slowly to an orchestral chorus, complete with strings and dramatic, staccato pauses where Duffy’s tremendous vocals take center stage. The music video for the song is quite literally one continuous shot of her in a cab, as it drives away from Warwick Avenue, while she cries and sings the song.

But I think that is also the appeal of Duffy — she offers an easy recipe for good music. Her album insert is eight simple pages of black background with a selection of lyrics printed in white. The cover is a black and white shot of her face. (No black pleather leotard, with mouth open and legs spread.) And her music is a recognizable, well-sung, well-played, well-written blend of good ol’ school funk and a modern sensibility for alt-pop. The lyrics are unfussy, but then again it is refreshing to not have to ponder over seemingly impenetrable verses or be hit over the head with life-altering poetics.

And Duffy mixes it up. Put on your most recently purchased foot apparel and walk it out to “Mercy,” “Serious,” “Delayed Devotion” and “Distant Dreamer.” Then slow it down, and seduce the apple of your eye with “Syrup and Honey” or “I’m Scared.” The two bonus tracks to the album are indeed bonuses — they have lost the funk influence of the album, and instead offer a more modern, minimalist and uncomplicated approach that make you lean in and listen closer, and then wish you had the voice this girl does.

The first bonus song, “Save it For Your Prayers,” is an elegant piano and vocals song about leaving a love, while “Oh Boy” is an equally unadorned song about waiting for The One. With only acoustic guitar, Duffy’s crystal clear voice, and harmonizing back-up singers, Duffy croons, “But if I find my feet/ down on lonely street, I’ll be standing there waiting for you/ boy you got me.”

And if there is anything more appealing than straightforward, good music, it is a down-to-earth girl to sing it. Duffy, whose first language is Welsh, grew up in a town with fewer than 3000 people, and is as humble as any slice of pie. About the title of her first album, she said, “Rockferry does exist. But I didn’t write it about the actual place. I wrote ‘Rockferry’ from the perspective that it’s a place everyone is trying to go if they are sort of struggling with something. It is the place that ultimately everyone is trying to get to in some form or way in their life.” And whether we ever get to that place or not, at least we will have some from-the-heart tunes to listen to on our way.

Download: “Oh Boy,” “Mercy,” “Warwick Avenue”