His debut single, "Black & Gold", a monster track, has the makings of a year-defining dancefloor killer, its syncopating sequencers, sinuous vocals and unbanishable melody recalling the force and effectiveness of "Killer" by Adamski and Seal.
It's unquestionably the single of the year and is sounding more amazing as the weather improves. Its durability is its genius.
The rest of the album doesn't disappoint either. Imagine a truly 21st century funk. A place where Daft Punk meets Prince, a place that references mid-eighties US soul such as the SOS Band and Cameo, along with a bit of post-modernist slap-bass.
Having already made a considerable impression on radio playlists with this album's heads-up single"Black & Gold", the twenty-something nu-soul songwriter Sam Sparro finds himself in an enviable position from which to hawk this, his debut album. Whereas the similarly funk-popping Jamie Lidell is likely to find cracking the supermarket crowd tough going with his new Jim collection, seeing he's had chances to impress the mainstream in the past and never truly capitalised on these opportunities, Sparro (born Sam Falson) has no previous, no skeletons to drag from the closet for context here.
Sparro's bright, brassy soundbeds are the work of someone who has grown up with house and 1980s synth-pop and, to this, he adds a voice that has no business belonging to a white Californian.
The influence of Bill Withers and Gil Scott-Heron asserts itself in his supple vocals, to the point where "Sick" - in which his voice is pared down to an echo - comes as a welcome contrast.
On "Hot Mess", his falsetto out-Princes Prince, though it has been years since Prince wrote such caustic, concise funk.
Sparro could soon be one high-flying bird.
Given some of the exhibitionist flair for colourful songwriting on display here, it's a pity our protagonist couldn't have arrived at a slightly more imaginative album title.
Here's Sam Sparro: an Aussie-American-Brit with an ear for a tune, a big distinctive voice, a face for the magazine stands, a whole heap of charisma and, hell, a cute name too. What could possibly go wrong?
A truly 21st century funk.
Sam Sparro - "Sam Sparro"
