Dan Black

There's been a bit of Dan Black fever this week: he's been mentioned on Radio 1 by Fearne Cotton, and I'm hearing lots of buzz about his new single, Symphonies. So, like the dedicated music correspondent that I am, I decided to give Symphonies a whirl and give my verdict here.

The song seems to borrow the intro drum sequence from Rihanna's Umbrella, but that's not a criticism: it's a funky snare/cymbal combination. Though that shouldn't define the song - it's a rather epic song, containing string sections and an accompanying video which sees Black falling into a stack of movie moments.

Towards each chorus, Black's voice sounds like he's been possessed by the ghost of Daft Punk, which lends an interesting aspect to the song, which is already a multi-layered slice of pop genius. I really could listen to this over and over again.

Enjoy the video (below) - it should whet your appetite for the weirdly titled album ((un)). I don't think there's anybody else making music this interesting at the moment. Thumbs up.