There's under the radar, there's blip on the radar and then there's Peter Bruntnell, an English singer-songwriter so unheard and underrated you sometimes think you've invented him just for the purposes of dropping his name into those "name one pop/Americana/psychedelic songwriter that I haven't heard before" conversations. So here are 16 cherry-picked tracks (and one lovely loose cannon, Played Out, featuring Rumer) from eight albums. Each one is a minor masterclass in how to make a song sound great from start to finish. If it's all a bit understated for you, then think of the tone of the subject matter: like alt.Americana mates Son Volt and Richmond Fontaine, Bruntnell is very much in touch with the dark stuff. What lifts it all up to Heaven is his canny employment of beautifully detached British psychedelia. peterbruntnell.net
Download: Have You Seen That Girl Again, Here Come the Swells, Cold Water Swimmer