Draw

Widely touted as the UK’s answer to Elliot Smith, 22 year-old Welshman Matthew Jay certainly looks the part, gazing out serenely from the cover of this promising debut all dreamy and cherubic. Recorded in Nottingham and New York, Draw successfully manages to escape the often cloying earnestness associated with the dreaded NAM (New Acoustic Movement) which he has been inevitably lumped in with.

Like almost every other young acoustic troubadour Jay has also been compared to Nick Drake and there are echoes of the doomed British folk legend on the whimsical, acoustic opener ‘Four Minute Rebellion’. A full band arrangement on the more memorable ‘Let Your Shoulder Fall’ gives full reign to Jay’s appealing voice, also demonstrating his clear abilities as a songwriter to be reckoned with. But it’s on numbers like the gorgeously soaring ‘Meteorology’ and Beatlesesqe, ‘Please Don’t Send Me Away’ where he finds his true voice. The latter boasts a lyric-line, melody and chorus that many more established artists would kill for - if he can pull a few more out of the hat like this one he’ll have few problems succeeding.

Despite the occasional intrusion of unnecessary contemporary tweaks and effects, there’s a timeless, early 1970’s feel to Draw that makes it undeniably appealing.

File under could be huge.