Jim Kroft - Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Jim Kroft is likely to be a new name to most readers. That's because the Highland native fled our shores at the first opportunity to be a kind of artist-in-residence at the Kunsthaus Tacheles community in Berlin's anarchic, creative hub. That intro might lead you to picture Kroft as an avant-garde dilettante trading in Low-esque krautrock. But then that's probably about as far from the reality as you could get. Working from an East London studio owned by Strokes producer Gordon Raphael, Kroft has fashioned a debut LP of classic 60s guitar pop. Ragdoll does engage in a spot of self-scrutiny ("a strange bohemian man") but for the most part this is all about McCartney melodies and easy-on-the-ear harmonies. Kroft may not fit the typical wandering artist mould, but on songs like Condition and One Sees The Sun, he announces himself as a bright songwriting talent. [Nick Mitchell]