The Hill Heavenly***

This Muswell Hill guitarist’s mercurial, silver-tongued guitar technique was once described as “watching a man have the most furious sex and the most desperate of fights at the same time”. Now, proving that sidemen can come out from under the shadows of their not always avuncular frontmen, Walbourne finally makes his debut after sterling service to the likes of Son Volt, The Pretenders, Pernice Brothers, The Pogues and, perhaps most memorably, Peter Bruntnell. Walbourne’s blend of chipper Kinks and doleful Richard Hawley-like songs hit the mark pretty much every time – there are classy guitar chimes and lovely melodies, and if the lyrics are occasionally clunky (“I’m as happy as I can be underneath an English tree/nobody bothering me”), at least they’re imbued by a knowledge of the subject matter (home, love, regret, happiness). All told, a winning collection of pop/rock/ rootsy songs. See cooperative music.com

Download tracks: Songbird, Sailed the Seas, Cocaine Eyes