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Hometown: Hitchin.

The lineup: David Rhodes (vocals, music).

The background: David Rhodes is a moody and mysterious 24-year-old from Hitchin in Hertfordshire, which sounds like a contradiction in terms, but remember that's up the road from where the none-more-witchy Kyla La Grange comes from. He's so moody and mysterious, he only uses his surname. Plus, his music is moody and mysterious. Think Sam Smith - another Herts boy in his early twenties - only more m&m. A Smith with less "soul" (in terms of the actual genre) and extra ballady intensity. We're dying to call him a male Emeli or Adele but we're worried you might laugh.

Rhodes' music is no laughing matter. Really, it isn't. It's very serious and solemn, with lots of echo and whatever else studio types use to give a sense of space and drama. One of those studio types who has been working with him is Charlie (Noah and the Whale) Fink, who produced Raise Your Love, Rhodes' debut EP, last year. And we say "last year" as if it was just one of many stops on a long career path when he didn't apparently pick up a guitar until January 2013, when he instantly "discovered he had a voice". That voice should be filed under "husky choirboy" - think Aled Jones after numerous crafty fags - and the latest studio types drafted in to ensure it's placed in the right context, on the new Morning EP, are Ian Grimble (Daughter) and Tim Bran/Roy Kerr (London Grammar), producers accustomed to recording artists who love a bit of soaring melancholy.

Grimble and Bran/Kerr have turned up the dials on Morning, taking Rhodes - who you may have seen supporting Laura Marling, Nick Mulvey, London Grammar or Rufus Wainwright - away from the realms of the lonesome troubadour (where he could have gone after Raise Your Love) to the point where he sounds like a one-man Coldplay. Your Soul, the EP's lead track, is rousing, Spectoresque in its epic immensity, but it's a chaste devotional. "I just wanna hold your hand," he sings, as though the Beatles never happened. It's got "hit" written all over it. Actually, it's got "Cliff Richard Christmas number 1 from the '90s" written all over it. Run is a slow burner, a gradual builder, but by the time it gets going you'll be reaching for your Bic. Worry features sensitive guitar-picking and a topline melody that can't help telegraphing Rhodes' quietly tormented worldview. "Is it too late, too late, too late now?" he wonders, projecting so much gloom you'd hardly know we were enjoying some early clement weather. Why so sombre, young Mr Rhodes? You're from Hitchin, you say? Come on, you've got St Albans up the road, man! And the bright lights of Borehamwood! Cheer up!

The buzz: "It's a gorgeous, echo-drenched giant that could very well steal the year."

The truth: If this isn't a hit, we'll eat Adele's hat.

Most likely to: Read all about it.

Least likely to: Chase pavements.

What to buy: The Morning EP is released by Rhodes Music on May 11.

File next to: Chris Martin, Jeff Buckley, Sam Smith, Aled Jones.

Links: facebook.com/rhodesmusicuk.

Monday's new band: Law.