One Day International - Black Bird

With Keane having time-travelled back to the '80s, the kingdom of piano-based pop waits to be claimed. One Day International are the perfect pretenders to the throne, but their music is more suited to the kind of timeless, trendless space inhabited by bands like Elbow; Black Bird is simply earnest, delicately crafted songwriting. While the Eimear O’Grady's cello overdubs add a folk element to the Dubliners' debut album, it’s mostly a collection of sparse piano ballads, pushing Matt Lunson’s vocal – which sounds like Richard Ashcroft stripped of his swagger - to the foreground. Standout tracks include the Lennonesque Miss Your Mouth, and Shiver, which manages to be epic without sounding pompous. One Day International are the kind of band that could reach out and seduce a mass audience, and, if this debut is anything to go by, it might just happen.