Hometown: Melbourne, London.
The lineup: Xavier Bacash and Lionel Towers.
The background: Gypsy & the Cat are a pair of French house-loving DJs turned singer-songwriters from Melbourne, now based in London's Stoke Newington, where all budding musicians must, by rule of law, spend at least one year (or Crouch End). Their lush, layered pop songs are half-programmed and half-played, and equal parts acoustic and electronic, but this is definitely not folktronica – it's miles away from the likes of Adem and Four Tet. When we interviewed them recently and accused them of being a 21st-century Simon & Garfunkel, they weren't remotely offended (unless you count being slapped on the knee). Their music has a shameless MOR feel. Equally shameless are their high falsetto vocals, which are pure disco-era Bee Gees, while the sumptuous production (which they did themselves back home in Melbourne, the clever boys), the mellifluous melodies and billowing harmonies, will remind you of what Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks got up to over at the legendary Record Plant Studios in LA in the late 70s. What they got up to musically, silly. Xavier and Lionel are straight as a die, although they do sometimes stay up late and drink wine.
An Aussie duo offering a take on coked-out LA pop? Think Empire of the Sun without the kabuki makeup and sci-fi warrior regalia. When pushed for a label to stick on them, Messrs Bacash and Towers, who are 21 and 25 respectively, quite like "semi-acoustic chillwave" but eventually go for "electronic soft-rock". "We love anthemic, inclusive pop music and big ambitious songs," they told us, before showing just how shameless they really are by listing their favourite acts. "We love all the big stars of the 70s and 80s: the Police, Toto, Michael Jackson, Queen ..." They're starting out indie-ishly, with their imminent first single Time to Wander on Young & Lost, which released the debuts by Bombay Bicycle Club and Noah and the Whale, but their album will be coming out in September on RCA, and it has been polished to a bright pop sheen by heavyweights Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT) and Rich Costey (Franz Ferdinand, Glasvegas). And the duo, who took their name from an old children's story book, have, they told us, proper big heavyweight MOR pop subjects for their songs: heartbreak and human nature, sorrow and solitude, love and loss.
The buzz: "It sounds a bit like Empire of the Sun but with a slight yacht-rock twist, and it's very easy to listen to on repeat for about half an hour" – Popjustice.
The truth: You could segue from Gypsy's track Jona Vark to Stevie Nicks's, well, Gypsy, without missing a beat.
Most likely to: Stay in Stoke Newington.
Least likely to: Play for Stoke City.
What to buy: Time to Wander is released on 21 June by Young and Lost.
File next to: Fleetwood Mac, Alessi Brothers, Empire of the Sun, Simon & Garfunkel.
Links: myspace.com/gypsyandthecat
Tomorrow's new band: Spark.