Jake Bugg

Jake Bugg "Jake Bugg" Photo: Supplied

Folk Rock

Jake Bugg

Jake Bugg (Mercury Records)

The British press has always had a thing about discovering ''the next big thing''. From Oasis on, every publication from NME to The Sun has thought they know who will make it big.

This month's next big thing, along with Palma Violets, is Jake Bugg: an 18-year-old Justin Bieber-a-like, with a voice that gives Liam Gallagher on 30-a-day a run for its money.

For once, the press may actually be right.

This self-titled album is quality, and quality far beyond his young years. Opener Lightning Bolt combines Noel Gallagher's songwriting with a 1950s swagger, while Two Fingers tells a story of pain and sorrow in the way a 50-year-old may reflect. The lyrics: ''I drink to remember/I smoke to forget'' is a self-portrait in two lines.

The album slows at times but never meanders.

It topped the British charts in its first week of release, and rightly so.

Worth the hype.