Pop/Electronica - There was a time, we suppose, before the term "laptop folk" existed, back when artists strummed guitars or pounded the ivories with just the basic instrument and a microphone at play. A one man band might have involved putting cymbals between your knees and maybe a harmonica bridge around your neck, but that was about it. Now we have DJs as well as artists from KT Tunstall to Imogen Heap, plugging in iPods or iMacs to the sound board, manipulating beats and instruments with a keystroke or two. Whatever we're harnessing creatively from this is still up for debate but there's no doubt its been a godsend for younger artists who show equal Mac-lovin' for both acoustic songwriting and synth beats.

Londoner James Yuill is one of the best of this new breed, melding folk/pop melodies and acoustic instruments with a few dancefloor byte-beats, appealing to both the head and heart with some leftovers for the geeky feet. Forthcoming album Turning Down Water For Air, arriving May 26 via Nettwerk is a deceptively simple but nonetheless impressive array of songs that work on a variety of levels -- in fact, Yuill offers a few of his songs in "Earth Versions", stripped of what we can only call his more celestial electronics. Not born with earbuds and touchscreens, we tend to prefer the more organic sound, but with the windows rolled down and some highway dividing lines blipping past, the "folk-tronica" beats can have a place on our 'table, too. "“Dreamsy beatsy poppy goodness…”, imagines The Times UK while ZOO opines that Yuill "fuses sweet and innocent acoustic melodies with some darkly introspective electronic magic." Video for "This Sweet Love" after the jump..

Myspace Artist Site