Some people were just born to make records. Chicago’s David Vandervelde is one of those people, and not just because his name is, frankly, ace. Vandervelde has been writing and recording since the age of 14. He scored a record deal with uber-cool label Secretly Canadian earlier this year on the strength of a song he wrote when he was 19 years old (Jacket, the second track on this, his debut mini album). Now, aged just 22, he’s delivered a short, sharp album that’s utterly at odds with everything else released this year. Or, for that matter, any year since Bowie last applied metallic face paint, Bolan strapped on his platform boots and Thin Lizzy popped the Marshalls in the back of the van.

Vandervelde writes classic rock songs in that early ‘70s, post hippy vein. It’s glam rock without the camp – stripped down to great melodies and crisp musicianship. And it all started with dad’s record collection.“I like good songs and good song writing,” says David. “My Dad has a lot of records from the early ‘70s, and when I was recording the album I took on the challenge of duplicating the sound of that era. I was also curious if I could figure out how to capture the most classic recording techniques fitting to the song. I think that’s the deal with that era of songs – a lot of those records just sound as they should, and were captured perfectly.”