Despite being lumped in the same category as former flatmates Mumford & Sons, singer/songwriter Alan Pownall's sound owes more to the melodic guitar pop of early solo Paul McCartney and the Kinks than the thriving nu-folk scene. Pownall was born in 1985 in South West London to a barrister father and housewife mother, and his main interest while growing up was the world of fashion. His first job was as a tea boy for a fashion PR firm; he worked for French designer Roland Mouret for two years and enrolled at a prestigious art college in Milan. However, he dropped out of the course after realizing music was his calling, and moved back to London, where he began writing his own material and formed Sex Face, a short-lived band with Ted Dwane from Mumford & Sons. Despite playing just three solo gigs, he was invited to support Adele on her debut headline tour after he contacted her through MySpace. In 2009, he signed to Mercury Records and released his debut single, "Chasing Time," a year later, following its appearance in a Nokia advertisement. After Pownall supported Paloma Faith, Lissie, and Mr. Hudson on their U.K. tours, his debut album, True Love Stories, produced by Eliot James (Noah and the Whale), was released in June 2010. ~ Jon O'Brien