Boy

Rising choruses, catchy hooks and cheesy lyrics: it’s pretty tough to argue with a pop song. Judging by his self-titled debut, Stephen Noel (aka Boy) knows this; luckily he also knows how to write a good pop song. The 20-year-old Yukon native takes his cues from the obvious ‘60s British chart toppers but adds a compositional maturity and somnolent timbre that bring his tunes a little further into the present. Case in point, the "Penny Lane” strings and horns that grace his ridiculously addictive first single "French Diplomacy.” The only rough patches come on the faux rock-out "Punk Ethic” and Noel’s occasional wayward be-bop delivery, but this boy’s got plenty of time to iron out the kinks.