New music to listen to this week: Knightstown

Now Hear This

Knightstown is the project of Michael Aston, who is about to drop his new single "Charlatan".

Inspired by Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, the track is a beautifully crafted work, building delicately with Aston's mesmerising vocals.

We're premiering the track ahead of its official release on 12 January via FatCat Records, check it out below:

Q&A with Knightstown

What are you listening to at the moment?

My recent listening has been a funny mix - The Dreaming Room (Laura Mvula - who's my favourite artist these days), Celebration (Jamie Woon), Ritual (Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares) , Center your Love (Machinedrum), Scrimshaw (Anna Meredith), Bad Kingdom (Moderat) and Mozart's late string quartets which are so beautiful!

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

i) Release a 5-track EP in March called 'Keep', and my self-titled debut album 'Knightstown' in July.

ii) Hopefully play some gigs and festivals - we have Live at Leeds and a BBC Introducing booked so far.

iii) Beginning my part-time PHD - not sure how realistic it will be squeezing this in though...

Can you tell us a few highlights of 2017?

i) Playing Hammersmith Apollo for three nights in C Duncan's band, back when we supported Elbow on their February tour. Touring with Chris and the band generally was so much fun last year. Also our trip to Tallinn Music Festival was a very special couple of days.

ii) Hearing my debut single 'First Cry' on Annie Mac's Radio 1 show was quite exciting.

iii) Watching Helen Plumb's beautiful visuals accompanying the second single 'Eyes Open Wide' for the first time - she's so talented! - As is Marcus Davies who does all the artwork for Knightstown - his pieces are stunning - it's a real privilege to be working with such creative forces.

iv) On a more personal note - meeting someone very special

What was the first gig you ever played and what's been the best so far?

First official gig I think was Doune The Rabbit Hole Festival 2016 when I'd just joined C Duncan's live band on keys/backing vocals. Best gig is hard to choose though, I was a bit spoiled by touring with C Duncan for nearly a year all over Europe and UK 2016-17 before Knightstown started up.

Le Grand Mix in Lille had the best sound system, it was so satisfying to play in that venue. Pitchfork festival in Paris was exciting. I think maybe Dublin Olympia on the Elbow tour with my wild Irish cousins in the audience was possibly the funnest gig for me to date.

As for Knightstown - my first proper headline show at The Electrowerkz last November - it was incredibly stressful preparing for it but was great fun in the end and so many friends and family came along to support which I was very grateful for.

'Charlatan', the new single from Knightstown, is out on 12 January via FatCat Records