SAM TOMPKINS

Hi, My Name Is Insecure (Island)

Sam Tompkins has been earning his stripes by building a fanbase on the live circuit for a decade now. So it’s quite likely that Hi, My Name Is Insecure will make him an overnight sensation for the uninitiated.

Firstly, the production on Hi, My Name Is Insecure is near perfect, giving Tompkins flawless pop vocals all the room they need to shine: check out the high notes on There Was One. The guitar parts on the title track opener sound like they were recorded by a guitarist actually playing the guitar, as opposed to someone trying to write the perfect pop hook, and there’s plenty of space for the songs to breathe – they haven’t had all the life squashed out of them in search of a hit.

There will be obvious comparisons to Ed Sheeran and Lewis Capaldi, but Tompkins does have something original to say even if some of the more heartfelt songs on Hi, My Name Is Insecure may lack a little subtlety (see Phones In Heaven); they come across, like everything else on the album, as very genuine.

words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES