London singer-songwriter Tom Baxter created a minor buzz in 2004 when he gave a mesmerising performance of his debut single My Declaration on Later With Jools Holland (watch it here). Things never really took off, though, and when Baxter was dropped by Sony two years later, he seemed destined to join the sad roll-call of talented-but-ignored troubadours - in fact My Declaration was one of Q’s 500 Greatest Lost Tracks in a special issue back in February 2007.

Instead of giving up and returning to the day job, however, Baxter has taken the independent route and released second album Skybound himself. It’s a far more cohesive effort than debut Feather And Stone, its mood of lovelorn fragility typified by lead single Better. Remaining just the right side of James Blunt-style mawkishness, listen to the song here.

[Myspace]

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