By Ian Youngs BBC News Online

Somewhere in suburban Leeds, Robert Harvey had been trapped in his bedroom for 21 years with only albums by the Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Doors to keep him occupied.

When he was set free last year, under the impression that psychedelic rock was still in fashion, he set about starting his own band and called it The Music.

OK, that may not all be strictly true. But Harvey did start a band called The Music.

And he does seem to have spent his formative years immersed in a record collection that has been wholly untouched by the likes of Oasis and Radiohead.

The album cover reflects the psychadelic influence

He certainly seems to be blissfully ignorant of any popular culture that involves Gareth Gates or Robbie Williams. Thank God.

Harvey, 21, is a deeply uncool, deeply emotional rock star from the old school whose hero is Jim Morrison, whose hair is verging on the mullet and who says things like: "We don't wanna fit in, man."

The other three members of the band are slightly younger and slightly less deeply uncool.

Together, they have made The Music one of the most talked-about new bands in the UK with their anti-pop attitude and wild, heart-felt wig-out rock epics like breakthrough single, Take the Long Road and Walk It, which recently entered the UK chart at number 14.

The name of the band points to a purity of rock 'n' roll attitude that says that this is all that matters - The Music. There is no other music. At least that is how they feel - and they want you to feel the same.

Some of the album lives up to that high ideal - but some of it does not. It has been done before and it is hardly life-changing stuff.

The Music are best heard live

The songs usually involve Harvey wailing some incomprehensible words over blazing guitar histrionics like he is possessed by the ghost of rock 'n' roll past. Some hypnotic drums add to the heady aura.

What carries the tunes is their energy.

When they are driven by the passion and emotion present in tracks like Take the Long Road and Walk It, it is easy to get swept along by the feeling that actually, maybe these young men do have a divine right to claim the rock crown.

But when the fuel runs out, you are left high and dry with songs that are slow and repetitive.

The best place to hear these songs is undoubtedly at one of The Music's concerts, when the full wide-eyed, wild-haired energy is allowed to come across in full force.

Something is lost on CD however, and these songs are a couple of decades too late to captivate a nation that has now been lost to Gareth Gates.

But turn it up very loud and you will be transported to a time when rock stars really did rock and, perhaps, there was only one music that mattered.

The Music is released on 2 September by Hut Recordings.