Rhys Lewis

Rhys Lewis could have stayed a cover-band kid from Oxfordshire, but a move to London at nineteen set him on a different course. The Oxford-born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, now signed to Decca Records, writes with the soul and blues grain that critics have repeatedly picked up on in his work. His songwriting owes a debt to Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys, whose lyrics first made Lewis sit up, and to Bill Withers's 'Lean On Me', alongside Led Zeppelin.

His debut album, Things I Chose to Remember, arrived in July 2020 and was made on analogue tape, a deliberate choice that forced him to weigh every part he recorded. Its songs address the portrayal of men in the media, mental health and personal relationships, with heartbreak running through tracks such as 'When Was The Last Time', 'Be Your Man' and 'Hurting'. His second album, Corner of the Sky, followed on 20 January 2023. He has said that 'No Right To Love You' remains hard to perform, since it draws on a real breakup that still resurfaces emotionally.