(1888PressRelease)
June 12, 2007 - Steve Cummins:
NME Staff Writer
London U.K.
Each week I am inundated with a stack of discs and mp3's to review. Part of what I do here at NME http://www.nme.com is make sure the great majority of these get tossed in the bin.
This week, just as I was to toss another kilo or 2 away a CD cover made from suede emblazoned with a weird name, shawnhlookoff caught my attention. Turns out to be Shawn Hlookoff http://www.hlookoff.com. I was intrigued enough to open and considered playing it.
After much dithering I did open it up and slid it into the Bose player on my desk deciding to review. I was prepared for more dreck from other non-descript places.
Ecstatic! A new major artist is found.
I am pleased to say I have found a new artist that combines the pop sensibilities of the early Elton Years tied to the the vocal acrobatics of a 50's Roy Orbison. Absolutely unique.
It has not been since I first heard Oasis http://www.oasis.com more than 10 years ago have I felt so electrified.
The 10 tracks on the inexpensively produced CD "Both Sides" are an amalgam of American and British influences. Pure pop with a touch of soul rendering.
The songwriter singer is from Canada (Vancouver) and is currently unsigned.
Although I hope those claw-like labels don't dig into this chap too deep. The talent is just too good to see go to waste.
Lets hope the industry wakes up to this one. We have seen some dismal CD sales in the past 5 years, a talent such as this could be a reversal of fortunes for some label.
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