Pearson is a singer songwriter and plays nice tunes, centred round his acoustic guitar. He reminded us a lot of Bernard Fanning, lead singer of Australian rockers Powderfinger, whose solo stuff is a mixture of blues and acoustic folk; as well as musical similarities the two have got similar voices, most especially on Pearson’s Wishing Well, which sounds quite similar (but slower) to Fanning’s, er, Wish You Well.

Wishing Well sees Pearson using a full band but other tracks, such as opener Masquerade, are just him and his guitar.

He mixes it up a bit, too: Wishing Well is a confident pop tune, Tracks is more bouncy alt country, 4th July is a bit Steve Earl-y Americana while  Black N Blue is a bluesy tune that’s a tad Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. An early standout is the lush ballad Satellite Town.

On one level this is just more pleasant singer/songwriter stuff but for a debut it’s mature and polished; Powderfinger might be a little dull to English ears but the fact that a debut reminds you of a prize-winning band with a long career is a sign of how good he is.