Back in 2005, at the age of 14, Nic Hessler created the alias Catwalk to write, record and perform his music. At the age of 18 Catwalk signed to the new label Captured Tracks. Two 7" releases followed in 2010 and 2011, with a Catwalk LP and tour planned for 2011. However, none of that would ever happen as Hessler was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré Syndrome. A rare autoimmune disorder at times mistaken for Multiple Sclerosis, the illness prevented him from playing guitar and left him partially paralyzed.

Hessler re-emerges in 2015, healthy and reinvigorated, with a more fully-formed and ambitious sound with his debut album, Soft Connections, which bridges the songwriting influences of the vintage American power-pop of Emmit Rhodes and Alex Chilton with UK giants like The Kinks and XTC.

The album kicks off with the upbeat, catchy 'I Feel Again', which will stick in your head for weeks to come. There's a late '80s early '90s vibe here... but the end result is timeless.

The album contains 12 tracks (39 min, 12 sec) and unlike the majority of the LPs released, this doesn't have a handful of great tracks, some not bad offerings and a few duff songs to fill up the rest of the run time. Nope, every single track on Soft Connections could be a hit single in its own right.

It's a modern classic in the making. If Hessler's career doesn't take off; if he's not embraced by the UK buying public, then good taste in this country is well and truly dead.

10

Nick Smithson