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Fri 12 Dec 2006WHO THE HELL IS ...Scott Matthews?Then and now:1968: A bright young star named Nick Drake is discovered by legendary producer Joe Boyd; his debut album, Bryter Later, is released by Island Records a year later. 2006: A bright young star named Scott Matthews signs to Island and releases his debut album, Passing Strangers. "As a label, it says everything to me about what I want to do with my music," says the wonderboy from Wolverhampton. "Nick Drake, John Martyn, Bob Marley, PJ Harvey - there's just a great mix of artists who've been on Island." Listen to such songs as Sweet Scented Figure, Earth to Calm, Eyes Wider Than Before and Dream Song, and you might think that Drake has come back from the dead to make his long-awaited third album, with Led Zeppelin, Ravi Shankar and The Spiders from Mars as his backing band. Bluesy slide guitars, folksy 12-strings, tablas, cellos and accordions create an acoustic storm and whip up the spirits of English folk and rock from the 1960s and 1970s.