Tom Odell - Can't Pretend

Tom Odell is a 23 year old, Chichester born singer-songwriter who last week was awarded the Brit Award as the Critic's Choice.  He claims to have been writing songs since he was 13 years old but didn't tell anyone at the time because he felt it was "uncool".

Can't Pretend http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4-OxOmsqR0 is a track from his latest ep Songs From Another Love and it is the one that stands out most to me.

With an debut album, Long Way Down, due out on 15 April, Tom has already shown he is a force to be reckoned with.  Beside the aforementioned Brit Award, there was also an appearance on Later... with Jools Holland last year, he was announced as one of 15 nominations in the BBC Sound of 2013 poll and his single,  Another Love, was used by the BBC to advertise their schedules.

His influences are the musical greats of the 1970s - Elton John, Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Billy Joel... as well as more up to date artists - Arcade Fire, Beach House and Radiohead to name a few.

But of course we have seen these sorts of things happen many times over the years - a new performer emerges whose future appears certain, and then he disappears as quickly as he came.  So only time will tell, I suppose, whether Tom will be different.

http://tomodell.com/