Overall, 2006 has been a good year for debut releases; up till now, we've heard impressive output from artists as diverse as The Sunshine Underground to The Immediate to CSS and back again. Add then to the pile one Jeremy Warmsley - a 22-year-old Anglo-French troubadour, thrust into the 'singer-songwriter' pile because seemingly, he doesn't quite fit anywhere else. Listen to his mini-opus The Art of Fiction through just once, though, and you'd be hard-pressed to disagree; pigeonholing the West Londoner is no mean feat. Warmsley has been smothered in hyperbole as quixotic as 'the English Rufus Wainwright' and 'Aphex Twin meets The Beatles' - and while both analogies contain a degree of accuracy, they still fail to do Warmsley's unique style justice. Opener Dirty Blue Jeans is an opulent, clever little number, all sharp edges, string sections and even a subtle, quasi-reggae beat slipped cannily in - and is atypical of Warmsley's experimental approach on the album. By attempting to cram as many melodies, chord changes, off-kilter drum beats and random electronic sound effects into his songs as possible, the album could easily have been overwhelmed by his boundary-pushing exertions. Instead, he pulls off every track with aplomb; simple, sweet arrangements, imaginative, shrewd lyrics and more eclecticism than most people's record collections. His warm, lazy drawl does, admittedly, illicit Rufus comparisons now and again, albeit a Rufus with a baffling West Country accent (I Promise); Jonathan and the Oak Tree is an eerie piano-based number that explodes into chiming Mamas & Papas-style euphoria; Modern Children denounces the 'yoof of today' over a woozy, promiscuous melody, while If I Had Only recalls The Postal Service's indie-electronica hybrid. By the time apocalyptic, forgotten-track-from-Donnie Darko Hush twinkles forth, you've been through an aural journey that's as much of a mindf*ck as it is a revolution. It may not strike you immediately, but there's enough here to keep you listening for months, and still find something new upon each listen. Wonderful.
