By JON CARAMANICA The debut album by the Welsh soul revivalist Duffy, “Rockferry” (Mercury), is an exercise in control. Her voice is subtle, pristine and evocative - there are shades of Motown, more Mary Wells than Diana Ross - and her songs,...

The debut album by the Welsh soul revivalist Duffy, “Rockferry” (Mercury), is an exercise in control. Her voice is subtle, pristine and evocative — there are shades of Motown, more Mary Wells than Diana Ross — and her songs, of which she is a co-writer, are neatly layered and womblike. At worst, her music is successful mimicry, but much more often Duffy strikes notes of blissful languor. She never tests herself, but she doesn’t have to; she teases, she confesses, and she says goodbye. “Rockferry” is, in every way, smooth.

Duffy: One of the latest retro-belters from Britain singing songs from her debut album at the Apollo Theater on Monday.

But Duffy, whose full name is Aimee Ann Duffy, is not as polite as she sounds. Halfway into her set at the Apollo Theater on Monday night, after a brassy version of “Delayed Devotion” — “I’m no longer under your spell/ Hear it in a song/ You can go to hell!” — she said that some of her songs are about not taking any lip. Or something to that effect.

“I just swore at the Apollo,” she said, with mock shock. Then she transitioned into “Hanging On Too Long” and “Stepping Stone,” two more ferocious kiss-offs.

Duffy doesn’t flaunt soul...
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