Luke Rathborne

The record was completed without the knowledge of the local college, and was engineered and produced by Rathborne himself, who learned to use the studio without assistance.

The tour was well received and documented by The Fly magazine, It's a day that usually fills most workers with dread, but Sunday in Stoke Newington is an altogether different affair thanks to this night that helps to segue the excesses of the weekend into the calm predictability of the working week.

This week, American troubadour Luke Rathborne is the special guest at The Drop – just one of numerous performances over town.

He comes bearing no gifts though and the evening kicks off an hour later than expected while the organisers struggle to find a backline and drum kit.

On record, his songs twist an engaging tale of gritty melancholy, but one that feels relatively restrained so it is a surprise when the guitars kick in and the world-weary, haunting tracks explode with such powerful force.

The comparisons to Bob Dylan and Elliott Smith are easily understood – it's raw, simple, aching – but his sparsely arranged confessionals are darkly captivating in their own right.

SPIN reviewed the album in 2013, "'SOFT' segues back and forth through the American underground, channeling the garage-rock sludge of Ty Segall in places (see the title track) and resurrecting the melodic charms of R.E.M.