Ezra Furman

We won’t beat around the bush, Ezra Furman is brilliant. He is wildly intelligent, a phenomenal live performer and a deft lyricist – who sings about everything from his faith to his depression over a technicolour cocktail of doo-wop, sax and 50s rock’n’roll. He made three albums with his band the Harpoons, then a crowdfunded solo record before he released Day of the Dog in late 2013 and followed it up with the near perfect Perpetual Motion People. His live shows are wild and brilliant: intoxicating, joyous and delivered with a sense of abandon. When The Guardian said last year he was the most compelling live act, they were more right than they’ve ever been.