Following last year’s soft release of The Scene & the Unseen comes its arrival proper. And the one-man band, Stoney plays every instrument on his albums minus the drums, more than justifies the current industry buzz encircling him. Boasting more hooks than your average butcher, The Scene & the Unseen will ensnare you from first listen.

If Syd Barrett had maintained his sanity, you’d imagine his Pink Floyd following a similar musical path to Stoney. That of blissed-out British-Invasion-influenced melody-chasing. Tinged with melancholia, but of course.

At the risk of overanalyzing the album’s title, The Scene is probably Stoney’s adopted New Yorkshire. The unseen possibly refers to those artists yet to be discovered as fully as the likes of the Arctic Monkeys i.e Stoney himself. In this particular singer-songwriter’s case, though, that’s one tag that’s not likely to last much longer.

(4½/5)