Super-talented Aussie pop funkateer who does everything - write, perform, produce, arrange - in his PJs
Hometown: Melbourne.
The lineup: Darren Hart (vocals, music).
The background: Harts is a young Australian musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, and when we say young we think he's 19 - so young that, in fact, when it comes to the disco and funk he alludes to in his own work, it's probably a question of it being, not the music his parents played to him as a kid but his grandparents. If he is 19, he was born when disco and funk were already distant memories, and the only reason we're making such a big deal out of it is, frankly, astonishment: that he's able to reference said genres so skilfully and assimilate their influence with such a mastery and attention to detail. His best stuff is good enough to rank with the finest of the new disco acts we based a whole Guardian cover story around in the summer. As good as, say, Breakbot and fellow Australians Flight Facilities. As good as Get Lucky or something funkadelic by Prince, who - for the third time this month - gets cited as a Fan of a New Band: apparently he's been raving about Harts, just as he has Quadron and Bad Rabbits.
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Harts is one of those Prince-ish do-it-all wunderkind, who doesn't just multitask - he writes, records, plays all the instruments, produces, arranges and mixes his tracks himself - but doesn't even bother to leave his home to do so because he's got a studio in his bedroom. Conceivably he doesn't leave his bed - the joys of modern technology. You can create a shiny pop-dance track, complete with neon-purple guitar fizz, while still wearing your onesie.
There's quite a lot of guitar here, but funk-rock this isn't - think the Isley Brothers circa Who's That Lady for some sense of the sizzle on tracks such as Leavin' It All Behind, which may have been written about Hart's tenure with Island Records, which came to a messy end recently. "Leavin' It All Behind is essentially written about change and moving on," he said. "An uneasy but positive message on just walking away from broken promises, propaganda and people leading you on." More fool them. In a world where someone like Bastille can become a breakout star, Harts should be No 1 everywhere, including other planets. And that's just the seven-inch version, the one that climaxes with an axe-vs-horns duel that is quite riveting. Only quite, mind. The 12-inch version features a keyboard solo and funk vamping like you wouldn't believe. Well, you would, because it's us telling you, and we never lie.
Other tracks from his Offtime EP include the Music, which is propelled by a fat beat and a chiming guitar pattern that is as much power pop as it is funk; All Too Real which is Hall and Oates-style yacht pop meets white funk; and the title track which is like something from one of the later Chic albums, only with Prince on hyped-up falsetto, electro propulsion and a solo at the end that could conceivably tear the roof off the sucker, any sucker. So there you have it: one of Harts' EP cuts is as good as Prince jamming with Chic. Teenagers, eh? All they do is hang around city centres, smoking beer and graffitiing pensioners.
The buzz: "He has a great ear for melody and his production is unique" - Lars Stalfors, The Mars Volta.
The truth: We quite like this one.
Most likely to: Necessitate instant replays.
Least likely to: Leave home.
What to buy: The Offtime EP is on Spotify.
File next to: Flight Facilities, Breakbot, Dan Hartman, Prince.
Links: hartsmusic.com.
Monday's new band: Kitten Pyramid.
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