Songs creep open with eerie strings and cascading piano, reminiscent of a Hitchcock movie shadow. His music continues along a similar spectral sweep, opening up to the vivid narratives, gripping poetry and melodic depth of Conor J. O’Brien – or as he likes to call himself and his cohorts, Villagers. With a Mercury Prize nomination under his belt, universal acclaim has now found this individualistic artist.

A new force in song craft, Cate Le Bon currently resides in Cardiff's infamous French quarter and befitting a songwriter who only writes in the dark, her music is a heady and highly personal Gallic stew of equal parts Nico, Malkmus and the chronicler's own emotional observations on the impossibility of existence.