BENNY SINGS

Dutchman Tim van Berkestijn, the real name behind Benny Sings, trained at the prestigious Royal Conservatory in The Hague, but from the moment he started playing bass guitar with the Rotterdam-based hip-hop group Abstract Dialect, it became clear that he would not be tied to orthodoxy or labels. If you don’t believe me, just listen to the delightful Young Hearts (2023), his eighth album, recorded in Los Angeles: ten immaculate songs full of radiant pop, sunny funk and infectious soft rock that set this collaborator of Mac DeMarco, Rex Orange County and Mayer Hawthorne out as one of Europe’s warmest and most engaging songwriters.