Ten Tracks Featured Artist: Rob St John

Having trailed around Edinburgh’s venues unescorted for four years, Burnley-born troubadour Rob St John recently unshackled himself from the baggage of the ‘singer/songwriter’ tag and acquired a brethren of likeminded souls who walk under his own name. As the man himself explains: “I’m very lucky to have found four musicians [Rob Waters, Bart Owl, Emily Scott and Louise Martin] who are in tune with what I want from the songs, and so massively talented that it takes very little time to make them sound good. In fact, we’ve become a band in all but name – is it too late to change it?”

A nifty alteration to the group’s handle may appease his all-for-one principles but when the limelight’s up for grabs Rob can’t help but hog it. You see, he has quite a voice. It lilts and swoons, coiling through the air like a spirographing whisper before unravelling itself inside the conscience. Mournful new EP Like Alchemy and stunning cut The Acid Test - St John's contribution to the Police Box channel on Ten Tracks this December - are formidable exhibits of his entrancing tones, with every breathy note leaving a personal message of reassurance.

Despite such melodious intimacy, Rob denies his lyrics are drawn from an inner well of emotion: “The last thing I ever want is for my songs to be an open-diary confessional,” says the 22 year-old. “If you can write things with a certain ambiguity, hopefully it'll resonate with people as they tie it to their own experiences. After Elbow won the Mercury Music Prize, Guy Garvey said they ‘avoid grand statements in favour of quiet revelations’, which really resonates with me - even though I'm not a huge fan of their music.”

What Rob is a fan of is something he’s intrinsically involved in: his adopted city’s blossoming subculture: “I think there's a really great and appreciative set of gig-goers in Edinburgh who have come out of the woodwork in the last year or so," he enthuses, "to really embrace the ‘lets find a room, get a PA, put on a gig!’ philosophy. Playing to 20 appreciative people in a tiny gallery or church somewhere sure beats playing to 300 disinterested people in a soulless venue.”

With his - sorry, their - luscious spirals of sound, you get the impression Rob St John could inject soul into the most hollow of haunts. And with the dawning of a new year, St John suggests the group’s soundscapes will be hitting more of the nation's venues very soon. “We're talking about doing another UK tour in February, this time as a Rob St John / Eagleowl [a band Rob has been known to join on harmonium] double header. We’re also recruiting a great new drummer, so the songs will add another dynamic,” he says. “We'd love to do another EP as soon as possible, but we need to sell a few of Like Alchemy before we can afford that.”

If that’s the case, then Rob St John is one man’s band we should all be digesting very, very quickly.

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Download The Acid Test along with other exclusive cuts from FOUND, Woodenbox, The Black Diamond Express and more for a quid by subscribing to www.tentracks.co.uk.

Now in its third month of operation, December sees Ten Tracks introducing two new quarterly channels curated by seminal indie labels One Little Indian (featuring songs from Asobi Seksu, Land of Talk and Rose Kemp for starters) and Fat Cat (hosting contributions by The Twilight Sad, Vetiver, Max Richter, Frightened Rabbit and many more).