"Why aren't you a pop star?," producer George Reid asked singer Aluna Francis in 2009 when he remixed Sweetheart, a track from Francis's former band My Toys Like Me. Four years on from that initial meeting and we've got a tight creative unit forging a mostly singular sound that is as far left from pop chart fodder as you can imagine. While Aluna's aerated vocals are a tad marmite for some (albeit displayed in fine form on Disclosure's White Noise), there's no doubting their difference from the also-rans seeking a slot on The Voice. It helps, also, that Reid's intuition in the areas of alt.electronica, US urban pop, electro-pop, dubstep and whatever you're having yourself ladles the music out of clichéd soul-pop bowls. So where there is usually familiarity, here there is strangeness and charm; where there is tunnel vision, here are wide-open vistas. alunageorge. com

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