In 2014, as the old guard stage comebacks for each surprise tax bill and his contemporaries strive for a gold standard of inoffensive flatness, this makes him something of a rarity. Cynical and melancholic beyond his years, the 22 year-old has spent the past two years touring and releasing 7”s, perfecting his songcraft and recording his debut album.

‘The World Famous Joseph Coward’ was released in October 2014 on Stiffy Byng. The volume showcases ten wry, direct reflections on dislocation and anguish, carried by arrangements that reveal an omnivorous appetite; the product of a youth exposed to the record shops, mildew and concrete of the fanboy margins, the sticky floors and ancient sofas of the underground.

After leaving school - in Brentwood, Essex - at sixteen, Coward left home and scraped together an existence in London, where he published a fanzine and made himself a fixture in the music scene. From here derive the quotidian neuroses and bleakness that dominate on the record.

Behind this however are biblical and Messianic themes that can be traced to the Pentecostal church community in which he grew up. Coward’s music speaks to a kind of sensitivity rehabilitated from callousness that makes the best Belle and Sebastian tick. His first LP perhaps reflects the struggle of integrating his present environment with his upbringing in ‘New Frontiers International’.

Joseph had this to say in a recent interview with Wonderland Magazine: “It’s about me communicating the ideas that I have through stories from my life. I think there’s a kinship in finding out that people feel the same things as you. It’s about feeling strange and being sad, but overcoming that and accepting yourself.”

‘The World Famous…’ follows two singles for Tim Burgess’ O Genesis label and ‘Children’s Bones’ on Blank Editions in 2013 and support tours with an eclectic roster of bands, from Factory Floor and Toy to The Charlatans.