Mayer For Mayor

I've been spending some of the grey January moments with a fine album by Mayer Hawthorne. You may know that he's a soul practitioner from Ann Arbor near Detroit and his admirers include Mark Ronson, Justin Timberlake, Snoop and er, Terry Wogan. His bag is old school rhythm and blues with a twist of hip hop and as such his record 'A Strange Arrangement' sits neatly beside the likes of Raphael Saadiq and Sharon Jones.

His mates know him as Andrew Cohen and the alter ego is actually his 'adult film' title - middle name plus the street he grew up on. There's another side project in a hip hop vernacular that he records as Haircut, just to keep things interesting.

So it's not blazingly new, but the songs are top and the music is delivered with respect. I think he will have a rewarding time in 2010 and I'm personally glad that he's bringing a warm soundtrack to a dour part of the calendar.