My Beautiful Demon

Oh, how we love our singer songwriters! They're the new flavour of the month, with artists you'd normally have playing in some poky toilet headlining festivals. The essence and beauty of the genre is raw, naked honesty. That's what Ben Christophers is best at.

The opening, title track, 'My Beautiful Dream', immediately knocks you for six. "I remember you in cine film/ fell in love too easily", Christophers intones with a combination of passion and subtlety that's been in short supply since the passing of the late, great Jeff Buckley. But then Christophers' trump card is his remarkable voice; it's emotive and warm yet mournful, a wonderfully melancholy instrument.

On numbers like 'Give Me Everything', he cranks up the tempo at all the right places. Indeed, throughout the collection, Christophers makes subtle yet effective use of electronica and beats, marking himself down as a singer-songwriter for the modern era.