Yeah, that’s right. We have a new lover called Yoav.

Imagine a record that matches the leftfield edge of Beck or Radiohead with the kind of sure-footed pop hooks Justin Timberlake’s people would write a blank cheque for. A record which vividly conjures the life of an insightful outsider, set to the dark, loping rhythms of Massive Attack or Portishead. A record built around a voice that’s as sweetly expressive as it is richly soulful. Then imagine that every single sound of it, including the bass & the drums, is performed by one man on his amazingly versatile guitar. That record is Charmed & Strange. I cannot think of a better description of this record. It wouldn’t be an ad but a seduction to tell you go and buy it, bitches! He makes you hot, melts down the skin and goes underneath your clothes deep through the backdoor right into your G-spot.

Although he looks like James Blunt (there is always somebody a new singer should look like), he is making hot music in studio and live. Everybody who saw him live wants more and more.

Yoav – born in Israel, lived in Cape Town, native Romanian, and then relocating back to South Africa. All the travelling around the continents helped him find his way in the neighbors’ house. „From the moment I started listening to those cheesy songs (Wham! And OMD) at my neighbour’s house, I knew I’d be a musician. I can’t describe the rush it gave me. The fact that music was an illicit pleasure actually made it the most exciting thing in the world for me.“

As he hit his teenage years, Yoav continued to consume music with an insatiable hunger, always pushing at the boundaries his parents had set. He began with the relatively safe sounds of Simon & Garfunkel and the Beatles, before moving onto the dark pop music of U2, Depeche Mode and The Cure. Phases of devouring hip hop, grunge and electronic music followed.

Suitably encouraged, Yoav began to focus on his own songwriting. „I’d written poetry since I was a little kid and there were always melodies in my head, I just had to learn how to bring them together.“ By the time he finished high school at 18, he was regularly demoing his songs in local studios.

After a year at university, Yoav dropped out to head to London, armed with little more than demo tapes and big dreams. „It was hopeless,“ he says. „I spent three weeks trying to shop my music around, with absolutely no joy.“ But just before Yoav was due to head back to South Africa with his tail between his legs, he got a phone call. His cousin in New York had found herself sitting next to a record executive at a fundraising dinner, with Yoav’s demo in her bag. The exec listened to it on his way home. Struck by Yoav’s powerful singing voice, he called to offer him a development deal.

Within a few weeks, Yoav had relocated to New York. Compared to Cape Town, the city was a thrilling sensory playground. Yoav threw himself into everything NYC had to offer, feasting himself on countless gigs and disappearing into clubland.

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