SOHN - Tremors

London-raised, Vienna-based producer SOHN is above anything else an old-school songwriter. His work - traditionally steeped in effects, eyes pointed to the future - could slot into previous decades with ease given the right treatment. Take breakthrough single ‘The Wheel’ - give it a circa-2001 R&B hook and bam, Timbaland’s on the phone.

SOHN’s background reaches back to at least one fairly high-profile, band-oriented project, but this debut solo body of work is dressed up for today and today only. ‘Tremors’ is a record that’s more ‘now’ than taking selfies next to a shelf full of cronuts. But it’s a songwriting prowess that helps this album dodge any blog-fodder bullets.

Opener ‘Tempest’ is designed to shock, built almost entirely out of vocal samples. The term ‘producer’ doesn’t much suit SOHN. He’s a vocalist first and foremost. He just so happens to know his way around fancy gear. ‘Paralysed’ goes above and beyond clever tech tricks. Stripped down to bare bones, it’s the kind of emotion-comes-first ballad that would slot into any Radiohead record post-‘The Bends’. Lyrics talk about a seized-up body with ‘holes in my stomach’ and a state of paralysis, but SOHN sounds more clear-headed and aware of his goals than ever here. A closing, title track is the best example of him marrying production knowhow with simple, dazzling hooks. Only in ‘Ransom Notes’ does the album fall a step short, sacrificing pop wit for pure sheen and lyrics that seem to meander.

That moment aside, SOHN’s essentially written an album’s worth of brilliant pop songs. Hand any one of them to a superstar and they’d be laughing to the bank. But given the consistency of this guy’s output, plus his ability to stay ahead of the pack production-wise, it’s easy to imagine those heights being reached on his own.