WITH more than a large dollop of Travis and a liberal sprinkling of West Coast Americana, 22-year-old singer-songwriter Michael Clarke, aka Clarkesville, seems to have arrived on the music scene a few years too late.

The baby-faced Walsall lad plies a brand of Indie guitar music that some may regard as timeless, but, to be honest, it was just a bit dull.

Joined by his three-piece band, Clarke nevertheless showed off a solid songwriting ability and a pleasant voice that sounded increasingly like Fran Healy as the gig went on - a virtue that will no doubt go down well with much of the record-buying public.

New single Heavy Soul is an upbeat, poppy number which may be radio-friendly, but far too middle-of-the-road to make much of an impact on the current charts.

Spinning and Someday showed a slightly more melancholic side of his material with shades of Starsailor, Semisonic and Ben Folds Five.

Comparisons like this probably won't be seen as criticism by most people, but this clearly talented artist needs to inject a little more if he doesn't want his music to be thoroughly forgettable.

The high point had to be Set In Stone, a beautifully melodic and angst-ridden tune, with a nice little bass line, which showed raw emotion. Why it has only been released as the B-side to his new single is anyone's guess.

Clarkesville, leave the shiny, happy sound to the Americans and stick to what the Brits do best - being miserable.

Updated: 14:25 Wednesday, November 05, 2003