Tim Burgess

One of the most promising acts of the new British indie pack, Delays (no 'the's here!) are a captivating hybrid of The La’s and Geneva. Led by the brothers Gilbert, they’re all floppy hair, model cheekbones and heavenly harmonies. The band have really tightened up their sound over the past few months and their tricky time signatures and fiddly guitar parts are handled without a hiccup.

Like their ‘90s counterparts, they may be in trouble if they don’t have another couple of hits in their arsenal. For the moment, though, current single ‘Hey Girl’ and its follow-up ‘Long Time Coming’ are easily stunning enough to distract attention until they have an album’s worth of strong material.

Shorn of his regular band mates, Tim Burgess looks every bit the LA man you’d expect, dressed up in superstar shades and neo-bohemian threads. Not having heard any of his solo material up until now, it was somewhat of a shock to see just how far a field Burgess has strayed from The Charlatans’ usual output.

No longer restrained by the ebbing tide of Britpop, the indie journeyman has truly found his feet in the most unlikely of places. It is with sun-drenched west coast rock, and just a hint of Motown’s classic pop nouse, that Burgess now places his hat. And, frankly, he has rarely sounded better. Songs like ‘Say Yes’ and new single ‘I Believe In The Spirit’ are spun out with all the necessary aplomb and already sound timeless.

This here’s one man who can look back on a career of evolution with no more than a brief whiff of stagnation and that’s more than Noel Gallagher can say, classic debut or not.