Jacob Collier – In My Room (2016)

Never heard of him?  Don’t worry – neither had I.  But for whatever reason I read about him a few years ago as a musical prodigy, a multi-instrumentalist and innovator who was being given a whole night at the Proms.  Intrigued I watched as he conducted an orchestra, for which he had arranged some of his own compositions as well as those of such luminaries as Stevie Wonder and The Beatles.   He not only conducted but played piano and guitar and sung.  The best bit for me was when he conducted the audience to harmonise with him on ‘Blackbird’.  I bought his then only album ‘In My Room’.  This is again a mix of new and adapted songs, all apparently recorded on computer and keyboards in his bedroom.  To say it is different is a simple cliché, but it really is quite magical.