Solomon Grey Gen V

Solomon Grey is a partnership between Brit Tom Kingston and Aussie Joe Wilson, whose 2012 debut Firechild was apparently a big hit in the blogging world (obviously I missed the memo). "Gen V" marks the pair's first new material this year, and it's an absolute cracker.

There are echoes of Radiohead straight from the get-go, as sliding guitars and melodic synths combine with an engaging falsetto. Driven by a sense of hypnotic melancholy, "Gen V" morphs into Air territory, with auto-tuned vocals over a simple synth line, highlighting the cold emotion present, before the instrumentation once again picks up, drawing the track to its fruitful end.