Joseph Arthur

It must be nice to go home to your mom or girlfriend one day and say, "Guess who discovered me today? Peter Gabriel!" Not-your-average-singer-songwriter brought that topic to the kitchen table back in the mid-'90s, when Gabriel's Real World label grabbed him for such gorgeous and mildly gloomy songs as "In the Sun," "September Baby," and "You Are the Dark." By the sound of our Next Steps, it looks like Gabriel scored an artist with an actual career ahead of him, too.

Not everything Joseph Arthur writes is custom-made for candlelit nights and sobbing sessions. "Exhausted" burns with the frustration of someone who just hit his or her last straw, and "You Are Free" hums along to the carefree tune of a harmonica and heavy-hitter drums, while "Good About Me," "Tattoo," and the Rolling Stones cover "Wild Horses" rekindle Arthur's natural ability to craft somber, bittersweet songs in the timeless vein of Leonard Cohen and Jeff Buckley.

Akron, Ohio didn't give birth to just Devo, the Black Keys, and the tire industry; it's also the proud hometown of Joseph Arthur, one of the most promising singer-songwriters to emerge from the past decade with a guitar in hand and head full of demons. He's not just hiding behind simple acoustic riffs and a broken heart, either; Arthur is as adept at bouncing his versatile verses off cabinet-shaking ("Mercedes," "Even Tho") and bubble-popping ("Bottle of You," "Big City Secret") beats as he is at hiding in a haystack of hazy chords ("Invisible Hands," "Honey and the Moon").