Texas kid Ben Kweller is still just 21, but already he's got such a distinguished history behind him that it's hard not to think of him as an industry veteran. Proficient from a very young age on piano, guitar and drums, he formed the grunge band Radish and toured Europe and America before he was out of his teens. Now he's gone solo and produced Sha Sha, an album so steeped in musical history that it sounds like a condensed history of American pop. There's echoes of everyone from the Beach Boys to Nirvana in here, as Kweller switches effortlessly from summery keyboard-driven tunes to heavy guitar rockers, infusing everything he does with an infectious sense of geeky cheerfulness. Inevitably, perhaps, there are times when he sounds swamped by the sheer range of musical references and you yearn for him to show just a little more of his own personality. Even so, this is a remarkably accomplished album - and Kweller's palpable air of self-confidence suggests that we'll be hearing plenty more of him in years to come.
