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Mk.gee review – is this the world’s most exciting young guitarist?

Amid ​a big breakout moment, the New Jersey musician slips past definition with his blend of 80s pop and Americana,​ his wild screams matched by the audience

The drums of How Many Miles or You Got It could just as easily start up a ballad from Celine Dion or Whitney Houston; the live version of Are You Looking Up tunes the guitar and vocal down to reveal the hidden influence of Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’. Photograph: Sonja Horsman/The GuardianHe and his band connect songs seamlessly with washing instrumental bridges under total darkness, before embers of the next track flicker into view and are greeted with howls of excitement. In a recent interview on BBC Radio 1, Mk.gee said: “People spend three years on a record to sound more human [...] and relatable … I think it’s evil.” Indeed, in an age when pop songwriting is often as personal and direct as a DM, Mk.gee counters that by bringing back mystery and an inability to be fully understood, as extended intros and additional jamming circle around his volatile Rockman persona.

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