'Singer-songwriter.' As bastardised terms go, it's an innate high-flyer. Kind of like 'attitude' or 'customer relations' or people who misuse the word 'literally' (Sports commentators take note. 'He literally shook the earth with that penalty'? No he fucking didn't).

Anyway. What hecklerspray is trying to say – in a ludicrously roundabout way, such is our teasin' style – is that such a term can inspire shudders akin to hearing phrases such as "Darling I'm pregnant". Think about it: James Blunt. K T Tunstall. Jamie Cullum. Or actually don't think about them. We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself.

Anyway. What we're STILL trying to say – in even more of a ludicrously roundabout way, such is our even more teasin' style – is that it would be a real shame if new Poptones signing Tobias Froberg found himself lumped in with that generically unsavoury crowd.

Froberg is a mite different from the usual legions of folk-based strummers that populate the Radio 2 schedules. This is for two main reasons - a) he's actually rather good, and b) he hails from Sweden; a place which – having given birth to the sadly-departed Concretes – has proven itself capable of exporting some of the best pop music around.
Froberg's music isn't going to change the world. It will, however – if you let it – lilt the world gently by in a summer-bliss Joy-Zippery kinda way, which to be quite frank is absolutely fine with us.

You'll probably have already heard When The Night Turns Cold on the new Panasonic advert, but there's also a certain emotional rawness that is present in a lot of Froberg's less 'immediate' stuff. God's Highway – introduced this evening as "the greatest song ever written" (surely Snooker Loopy wins that accolade) – is a good example.

In short – if Ryan Adams (pre-Cardinals), Damien Rice, certain Neil Young moments and early Paul Simon float your boat, you're going to have a good time getting acquainted with young Toby. Hecklerspray caught sight of him in an intimate cramped venue. Chances are the gigs are going to be getting bigger by the day…

[story by C J Davies]