"A great gift to have in your head" is Oxford-based solo artist/songwriter Barnabas Morse-Brown's debut single, taken from "Smile Inside", the debut album released last year on Weeping Willow Records (Morse-Brown's own label).

A classically-trained cellist, Morse-Brown has been playing guitar and penning his own songs for the last couple of years. "A great gift" is certainly an impressive first single for this much of a newcomer onto the non-classical scene, the title track having the kind of storming melancholic lilt that used to characterize the stock in trade of Coldplay and, once upon a time, The Verve. Unsurprisingly, Morse-Brown cites Coldplay and the late great Nick Drake as influences, and there are immediate evident similarities between his vocal style and that of the many other hauntingly-voiced young men currently en vogue in British indie-pop. However, without the epic, alien choral quality of a Martin Grech (think Lexus advert), the tortured whine of a Tom Yorke or the badboy persona and trendy accent of a Richard Ashcroft, it may be that Morse-Brown doesn't have what it takes to make it - arriving on the scene, as he is, at the tail end of a wave of such performers. On the other hand, who says that wave has broken? May The Public decide.

"A great gift" is classy indie-boy pop, with some fine, folky, attractively arranged string backing, and easy-on-the-ear production values. With a light, jazzy drum and bass beat slipped underneath it as auditory wallpaper, it could be a hit in the making - though Morse-Brown does need to relax a little bit more into really singing his lyrics (nothing which can't be ironed out through a bit more time in the business). The other two tracks on the CD, "the fall" and "smile inside" are much weaker tracks, but nice enough nonetheless. Writing really good lyrics is a tricky business, and as such a newcomer on the scene, it is unsurprising that Morse-Brown's skills leave room for improvement (the Grechs and Yorkes of this world may be able to sing a song so that the lyrics themselves are almost irrelevant, but lesser mortals need to employ a bit more wordsmithery); a bit of image adjustment might also make a difference (lose the velvet jacket and the pout, think about employing a stage name?). Superficial criticisms - but then superficiality can make or break in the glitzy one-hit-wonderworld of pop, and a more remarkable sound is required to make the break elsewhere.

A great gift was released on December 9th and can be ordered online by contacting Barney: [email protected]

20/12/02