A mix of folk and acoustic jazz/soul from Leeds in the UK doesn't sound overly promising but this young artist's debut album is an impressively slick and mature piece of work.
Kemp wrote and produced it all, a labour of love that involved burning the midnight oil after a care working job and playing in The Soul Circle Gang.
He has every right to be proud of the results.
This is a solo project aided by guest musicians, notably James Boyes on sax who adds a air of sophistication to the two best tracks Twilight and Oh How My Heart Aches.
By keeping to a chilled, laid-back mood throughout, this is an album that invites you to listen to it as a whole rather than cherry pick tunes or look for hit singles.
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The voice as instrument on Something To Satisfy has traces of Jeff Buckley but Kemp is an artist who has also absorbed a wide range of influences from Motown to World Music.
To get such a great sound from home recordings using a battered laptop, it makes you wonder what he could have achieved in a proper studio.
A name to remember.
Joe Kemp's website
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