Hundreds of new singer/songwriters emerge every year, and only a few will ever get any whiff of success, usually because they’re too bland and just like the others to get people properly excited. However, Yoav seems to be different. Very different.

Born in Israel, raised in South Africa, lived in New York, currently living in London, Yoav has a distinctly unique style – out of the window are the emo love songs typically associated with singer-songwriters, and in are beats, blips and down-tempo post-club comedown tunes. The American market didn’t like his blend of Damien Rice and downtempo Depeche Mode, so he came to London, where, understandably, everyone loves him.

Following in Newton Faulkner’s footsteps of multi-genre bending, Yoav has his first single, “Beautiful Mind” out in the week before Christmas on 18th December. It’s the sort of thing you can imagine Justin Timberlake doing, but just as much Beck, or In Rainbows era Radiohead. It can make you dance or make you chill out. It’s that great. It’s quickly going to ingrain itself in your mind, so wander over to his MySpace and take a listen. You

The album “Charmed & Strange” will be released digitally on the same day, though I don’t know when the old-school CD release will be. Apparently it was recorded real close to where I live in the UK, in Oxford and also in current musical-it city, Montreal. Every note of it is played, teased, tapped and pounded out of his guitar, which is hard to believe going by the few tracks on his myspace.