BEAUTIFUL BOY

The first thing you notice about ‘But You Do’, the latest freebie release from Brighton five-piece Beautiful Boy, is the gravelly, soulful vocal, with hints of Transatlantic drawl reminiscent of Billy Joel. And there’s nothing wrong with that – honestly. The rest of the track is a mid-tempo folk-rock waltz embellished with a nice bit of both Hammond organ and Rhodes piano, and most excitingly, that most rare of things, a proper, old-school guitar solo, announced, as it should be, by a squall of feedback, and escalating to the very highest echelons of the fretboard. Super stuff.

The song initially seems to be about a relationship break-up but there’s evidence that there’s still feelings ‘twixt protagonist and target of affection, so perhaps it’s about a relationship un-breaking up. A conscious recoupling, if you will. Thus is the ambiguity of a proper bit of traditional songwriting.

And then we come to the thorny issue of that band name – the appropriate Google search is inevitably “beautiful boy band”, which if one isn’t very careful will bring up a picture of Harry Styles in his underpants. You have been warned.

Words by Martin Sharman

Tipped by Simon Pursehouse from Sentric Music and Rob Platts from Junk City