Lighters out for the swooning, crooning indie of the season, as Feldspar channel Keane, Snow Patrol and The National (minus the crusty hangover taste) on self-released third single ‘Beautiful People’. Centred around the delicate songwriting talents of Will Green, they started out playing folk clubs whilst at uni in Manchester before turning their Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, John Martyn influences into big swirling, atmospheric rock anthems.

 

Bookish, worldly and ever so slightly tortured, the five-piece deal in angelic, impassioned harmonies that swell into layers of rousing, soaring pop crescendos, and ‘Beautiful People’ turns from a melancholy lullaby into a heartfelt torch song, cosy enough to keep you warm through the darkest of hours.

 

It’s already attracted the attention of an unlikely fan in noughties popstress Samantha Mumba (remember her?) and with lyrics as heart-melting and sentimental as – “We are the beautiful people, every scar and every bruise/ You don’t like to think of it now, but we once looked a lot like you/ You only know you got something when it’s something you can lose,” – it can only be a matter of time before they soundtrack an emotional scene in one of those schmaltzy US TV dramas. Give it a year and Lily Allen is sure to be covering one of their songs for a John Lewis advert.

 

Kevin Irwin